EVENT LOG: COTTON CANDY HEARTS

[nextnightmods]

EVENT LOG:
COTTON CANDY HEARTS

characters: everyone.
location: amusement park.
date/time: august 17 - 31.
content: time to enjoy a little time at the carnival!
warnings: n/a. please use cw tags as needed.

oh come, take my hand, and run through playland...

It's clear in the past two days of fevered work, the spirits are up to something. Collecting rainbow wigs and pinstriped jackets, gathering food and preparing decorations. There's no getting them to reveal the secret, though — any attempt to ask only results in an ominous gesture of silence. However, characters won't have to worry about what the spirits are up to for too long, as on the start of the 17th each and every resident of Beacon will be delivered a note, inviting them to come out and enjoy themselves at the Amusement Park.

ALL FUN AND GAMES.

Over the last few days, some of the food tucked away in the General Store, The Invincible's stock room, and the kitchens of The Landmark may have gone missing - but not to worry, because here it is, all stocked at little booths within the amusement park, ready for sampling! The enticing aromas of fried batter and sugar wafts through the air, no matter where you are in the park. Find old favorites, from funnel cakes to fried pickles, popcorn to whole turkey legs - or try something new! Ever had a corn dog wrapped in curly fries? How about a deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a stick? One spirit, currently chewing on a crispy battered pine cone, even offers a unique suggestion - bring it anything you like and it will deep fry it for you. You do have to eat it, though, that's the catch, or the spirit will be very irate and might take something of yours later to deep-fry and leave on your pillow. Don't waste good food!

At the end of the row, tables have been covered in classy checkered red-and-white tablecloths, and piled with ingredients, and it looks like ovens formerly belonging to some ruined village housing have been dragged all the way out here and plugged in, and are now waiting and ready. There's flour (all purpose, pastry, chickpea, and others, and - no, that's just a pile of sand on that plate), plenty of butter and sugar and spices, all sorts of summer fruits, and more. It's a pie making contest! The judge is the Lunch Lady spirit, who hmms and ahhs and ohhhhs wisely as they pace back and forth along the tables, observing the pies being made and occasionally taking tiny little samples with tiny little forks when the pies are baked. How will they decide the winner? That's their secret, for now!

But their delicate little tasting session has left the pies mostly unscathed, which means it's time for the pie eating contest! A rowdy quartet of squirrel-like spirits cheers everyone on who wishes to participate, and they squeak and chatter at participants, bringing pie after pie after pie directly to whoever walks over. How many can you get down?

If food isn't your style, though, carnie spirits host a number of games scattered throughout the park. They whistle and wave you over, jump on your shoulder if small or yell at you with animated limbs from above if quite tall, urging in their musical tones for anyone and everyone to come on down and give the games a try! Toss balls at a set of colorful stacked bottles, and see how many you can knock down in a single throw, with candy and costume jewelry for rewards. Fling a ring into a booth and land it around the head of the stuffed animal you want to win, if your aim is good enough. There's even a duo dunk tank set up - over a large tub, two chairs are suspended, each with an attached bucket of softballs and a target over the head of the chair. You and a friend get to climb in and see who can dunk who first!

MUST BE THIS TALL TO RIDE.

A carnival isn't a carnival without some rides to test your bravery with, is it? Past where the food booths and skill games are set up, there are a selection of them set up, all providing various levels of thrills. There's a roller coaster, of course, that's been constructed of wood and makes a loud rattling noise as it drives you through the loops and hills. There's also a tilt-a-whirl, a gravitron, and a log flume, if you're still feeling the effects of the heat wave.

For those less interested in thrill seeking, there are also slightly tamer rides, like the bumper cars, a ferris wheel, and the tunnel of love. All of these rides have the innate feeling of danger that you'd find at any theme park or carnival, but they operate quite safely, albeit with some creaking.

COTTON CANDY HEARTS.

Away from the fun and excitement, the Fun House has also come back to life. There's something a great deal more ominous about it than the rest of the celebration, however — in fact, spirits will actively attempt to steer residents away. However, those determined to explore can still find their way inside.

To start, it doesn't seem that abnormal. A mirrored maze, flashing lights and creepy music. However, as they travel through the mirrored halls, they'll notice something. Their reflection doesn't necessarily follow their movements. Actually, it seems like it is trying to get closer. Maybe that isn't their reflection at all?

Trapped and lost in the maze, eventually the reflections will become full-fledged matching doppelgängers of any character that entered. It's hard to tell the difference between the fake and the actual thing, though the doppelgängers will not speak, only chase — and chase aggressively. They will grow more and more aggressive in trying to reach their double, willing to go through potential distractions if they have to. Cutting them down seems ineffective at best; as long as there are reflections, the doubles will keep coming, growing more and more bloodied as they "die". Ultimately, they will not stop until characters exit the maze or they reach their exact match.

As they reach their match, they will reach out and grab their heart. Literally, hand through the chest and everything. It's as excruciatingly painful as it sounds. The doppelgänger will smile a demented, satisfied grin, and disappear immediately after without a trace. Any character that got nabbed by their double will suffer from lantern malfunctions for the rest of the event. You're more than welcome to pick what malfunction and to what extent!

FIND YOUR FORTUNE

Characters that have braved wandering outside the relative warmth and activity of the the celebration will find the rest of the amusement park still a little grim. Dark, worn down, abandoned. Plenty of the rides seem ominous at best and dangerous at worst. In their searching, characters are likely to happen upon a fortune teller lingering in the shadows.

If they are brave enough to approach, they'll find there is no need for a coin. Upon spotting them, the fortune teller will creak into motion, offering a spiel in a slightly monotone robotic voice. It's a little unnerving, though what is the worst a robotic fortune teller can really do?

Well, it turns out, every fortune the fortune teller provides always comes true. Some of them are harmless, like a prediction that they will win their next game of darts or find a cherry in their blueberry pie. Some will get far more grim fortunes, that they will find glass in their next drink or that they will step on a nail. Worst of all are fortunes that essentially force a character to do what they would normally wouldn't, like confessing a dark secret to the next person they see.

While you are welcome to make up your fortune, you are also able to put your character's name here to get a mod-generated fortune. There will be potential clues for future explores in these fortunes, though there is also a chance of receiving something else, such as an injury or a strange happenstance. No one will receive death in their fortune!

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Comments

[callada]

1. it's the crunch

All this food smells incredible. That's the strangest part. Smell and taste ought to be tied, he thinks - usually they are. Can't smell something? Can't taste it either. Here, he's drawn by the incredible aroma of all those addictive carnival treats, but as he bites into a crisp, juicy ear of grilled corn, he ends up just looking a little dejected.

"How about yours, how's that?" he asks, turning instead to whoever is nearby. Maybe it looks good, or maybe it just looks really, really questionable. Maybe he'll even be willing to try some of the weirder stuff here if he can't even taste it.

2. bumper cars!!

No, Rosinante can't fit into one of these.

He absolutely does not care. His face lights up as soon as he sees them and he trots over, smile wide. "Cars! Those are cars, right? People keep talking about those."

They're not quite like the gutted rusty contraptions in the courtyard, but they have a similar shape and a steering wheel and that's good enough for him. When they come to a stop, he immediately goes to put his feet into the space below the wheel and just sit on top of the back of the car with his hands way down by his calves and his knees bent tight to fit.

"C'mon, get in one, I'll race you!" Around... the small arena, he supposes. No, he can see the point is to bump into each other and he's sure that will happen too.

2

[countershocks]

There are many, many things Law would do to make Cora-san happy — so many, in fact, that it would be far easier to make a list of things he wouldn't do.

Apparently, getting in a weird, small vehicle made for the single purpose of bumping into others of such kind is one of these things.

With the flattest look he can manage, Law looks straight at Cora-san, and says,

"No."

[callada]

"Lawwww.... Please?"

For the entire past year, people have been urging Rosinante to try and have some fun once in a while. And sometimes he even managed to, a little, but on his own he's always so much more reserved than most. Law being here changes things, though, finally - when they're not both trying to keep each other from getting killed, anyway.

"Don't you want to dr- eep!" He cuts himself off with a high pitched yelp as he accidentally hits the gas, pitches forward, smashes his nose against the hood, and stops just abruptly as he started.

[countershocks]

"I already said no!"

Scowling, he glares at Cora — look, he still has some standards, here. He absolutely refuses to drive stupid-looking little cars.

And when the car suddenly starts moving, he can't help but yell, "Cora-san!" But when it's obvious nothing bad had happened, Law just... slowly, resolutely, leans his forehead against his palm.

"... great. You keep doing that, and you'll break your nose."

[callada]

"Haven't broken it yet!" he shouts cheerfully as he rights himself, and rubs his hand against his nose. Hm, it's bleeding. But it doesn't hurt enough to be broken! His eyes cross as he tries to look at it, a moment of intentional clowning in an attempt to get Law to lighten up a little.

"Okay, how do I..." he then mutters to himself as he sits crouched all long-limbed and spiderlike, with knees and elbows jutting out at angles as he more cautiously tests the brake and the gas. It jerks again, but less abruptly, and eventually it gets going. Slowly. Because he has absolutely exceeded this thing's weight limit.

[countershocks]

"Why does it have to be yet?" he mutters, mostly to himself, because it seems inevitable it's going to be exactly that — something that ends with his nose broken.

And there's absolutely nothing he can do to stop this, because Cora-san is having fun, and he's powerless against that.

Instead, he observes him trying to operate the car, and when it starts crawling forward, oh-so-slowly... Law flips his hand around, creates a Room, and with a flick of his fingers, starts moving the other cars.

He doesn't have to drive himself to participate in this, okay!

1.

[patriotnow]

The general fare available to a Belter contraband runner can't generally be considered 'cuisine' by any measure so Ashford can't exactly be picky. He's downed more things did not know the contents of than he'd like to count, however he might have to draw the line at a clump of deep fried moss.

Though when he hears Rosinante's voice he pauses, gaze shifting over to consider the giant beanpole of a being.

"Be my guest," He says flatly, holding the moss ball in Rosinante's direction while seemingly trying to kill him with a dark glare.

[callada]

"Uh."

Man, he does feel bad about Ashford. They got off on the wrong foot, and that's putting it the nicest way possible. He continues to try and make it up to him by being polite and offering pleasant conversation, but if the man never forgives him he won't blame him. It was an awful way to meet.

That said, looking down at... whatever that is in his hand, he's not sure how else to respond initially. He leans deeply downward as if getting a closer look at it will help.

"What is that?"

[patriotnow]

Ashford remains wary of Rosinante. With no reference point he can't be sure if his first encounter or the later ones are the reality. And he doesn't make a habit of letting his guard down easily, particularly with someone who could so easily be a formidable foe if they chose to be.

But he also doesn't see the point of making unnecessary conflict if there is a middle ground somewhere near distrusting neutral.

"It looks like the back hair of a backwater ice hauler..but I am guessing it is not that."

[callada]

"I guess you never know. Maybe the spirits like fried hair." They've eaten more dubious things before, from what he's seen.

"Did it just hand you that, then? I guess you could ask for something else. Or I saw some sort of fried bread thing down that way," he says, pointing toward a stand in the distance. Smells good, actually - sweet and spiced. But even if he could taste it, he wouldn't want to, because bread is atrocious.

And no, he's not going to try the crispy fried hair, either, or whatever that is, as he continues to make no move to even touch it.

[patriotnow]

He can't fault Rosinante for not taking the challenge, although he would have enjoyed being witness to it. He hesitates a moment longer, unsure what to do with the oddly spongey ball before simply throwing it over his shoulder.

"Eh, I am more of a scotch man."

Though if he finds something akin to deep fried noodles he might partake. He has missed the noodles on Eros since long before he died.

After an awkwardly long pause he nods in Rosinante's direction.

"I had heard you were killed."

Surely this is a good ice breaker for conversation.

2

[worthallthis]

"I don't know, it might not go very fast with me in it," Soldat says, a little dubiously. They look very small. They look even smaller with Rosinante on top of one of them.

[callada]

"What, you think it goes fast for me?" he counters with a laugh. "Doesn't have to be a race, then. We could make them actually crash or whatever they're supposed to do."

It'll be some slow-motion crashing if so but maybe that's for the best. Whatever the weight limit on this car is supposed to be, he absolutely exceeds it.

[worthallthis]

"World's slowest race," they suggest, sounding vaguely amused, but they do climb into the round car pen and gingerly step into one of the cars. (A red one, of course.) It creaks alarmingly but their feet don't go through the floor, so that's something, and they settle carefully in the seat. It's too small, but not quite as too small as it would be for Rosinante.

[callada]

"See? You fit fine!" By some definition of fine that doesn't quite qualify, but good enough is good enough.

"The ones in the scrapyard are bigger than these, so I know they probably were better at holding people. Must have gone a lot faster, too!" he says as he carefully presses the gas pedal, then presses a bit harder as it barely budges at first.

Don't mind the nonsense about cars, as he just spouts things stream-of-consciousness. That's totally normal, right?

[worthallthis]

He is kind of rambling. That's not really a Rosinante trait. Soldat eyes him briefly, but lets it go for now. Maybe he's on a sugar high or something. "These are toy cars. Basically."

They're careful about the gas pedal on theirs, too, but having actual experience driving cars (wow, who knew, they sure didn't) Soldat does get it moving and turning as smoothly as bumper cars ever actually go.

c r o n c h

[donttalktome]

It was very tempting to test the limits of the deep fryer spirit, to figure out if it really could fry anything. Could he just give it inedible objects? Liquids? He knows, of course, how a deep fryer works, even if they rarely see much use in his time, but there's a stunning lack of good entertainment around here most of the time, and the spirits have shown themselves capable of some truly bizarre feats. Of course, the caveat that he'd have to consume anything he handed over made the prospect far less appealing. Until he thought of a happy medium, that is.

Now he's not entirely sure if he regrets his decision, cracking a deep-fried coffee bean between his teeth. That... certainly is a flavor.

"I'm not entirely certain how to answer that. The texture could use some work."

There is, after all, a reason people started brewing these instead of just eating them.

[callada]

"Believe it or not, I used to eat those by the handful when I needed a caffeine boost and didn't have time to wait. Roasted, I mean, not deep fried," he clarifies, as if it makes a difference. "Is it more crunchy than usual?"

The questions he finds himself asking, sometimes. Beacon, why. He almost sounds hopeful, though, as he imagines a coffee bean with the texture of, say, popcorn.

[donttalktome]

"It's... additionally crunchy, I would say." The beans themselves aren't any crunchier, but there's also the batter on top, which is its own thing entirely. Two cronch for the price of one.

"I won't claim I've never eaten these raw. Can't always bother finding the time to brew them." Or rather, can't always find the water and heat necessary when you're poor space trash, but let's not add that part.

Will pops another couple of beans into his mouth, realizing that they snap much easier between his jaws than they should. They're not soft, exactly, but not difficult to chew.

"I think it may have made them a bit easier to eat, as well. Doesn't take much effort to chew them." Trust him to give way too much information on something so trivial.

[callada]

"Kinda sounds good. Mind if I try one? I'd offer a trade, but all I've got is a half-eaten ear of corn," he says, grinning wide. "Probably not very appetizing. I could go win you a stuffed animal, though."

Is he boasting about his ring toss skills? Maybe. When he's not prone to fumbling things he does have excellent aim.

[donttalktome]

Will blinks. Stuffed animal? Why would he want that? Is... is Rosinante offering to show off for him? That's... unusual.

What's perhaps more unusual is the powerful temptation to let it happen.

It's been a good while since Will's had any sort of attention like this, and he won't deny that it feels nice, having someone want to show off for him, or really to impress him in any way. But it's also coming from Rosinante, who doesn't normally act this way. Is something happening here? Is he being too paranoid? Reading too much into things? Overthinking this?

Yes, probably. Does he even want this sort of attention from Rosinante?

"You can have a few." He holds out a handful. "No trade needed, though now that you've made the offer, I am curious to see if you could pull it off."

There, that's a middle ground, right? No.

buncha crunch

[bigtoughgirl]

Meg's wholly unfamiliar with the food being offered, but it smells and looks inoffensive enough for her to give it a try. She's currently got a plate of funnel cake in hand and is gingerly picking at it when Rosinante asks her about it.

"It's not bad, really sugary," she says, attempting to dust some of the powdered sugar off of her fingertips. "Do you want to try it?"

[callada]

He eyes the funnel cake suspiciously. Normally he's not about things that are super sugary, but maybe if he can't taste them right now, or ever again, then maybe that's okay. Maybe he'll come to find something to like about them.

But there's a problem with this one, whatever it is. He stares it down a second longer as if it has said something offensive, then meets her eyes with his. "Sort of looks like bread. Is that bread?"

[bigtoughgirl]

Regarding it again, Meg supposes it could be considered a type of bread, but it definitely doesn't look like any kind she's ever seen, even here.

"I guess it resembles it if you ignore all the powdered sugar. Why, not a fan of carbs?"

[callada]

"No, I just don't like bread. Smells bad, tastes bad, the way it... squishes..."

There is utter disgust in his expression which only gets worse as he describes his loathing.

"Not sure what carbs are. Is that what makes bread bready?" he asks, clearly indicating that bread's breadlike status is what is totally unacceptable about it. Which is to say, everything.