INTRO LOG ☆ WELCOME TO THE KINGDOM

[loveskulls]

☆DAY ONE | THE GRAND ENTRANCE☆

When you awaken after a nice, long, deep sleep (facilitated by some herbs burning in the fireplace, perhaps) you have made your choice. When you exit your room, you’ll see a signpost in the middle of the corridor that you didn’t notice before. There are three signs, all pointing in different directions, with the words “Apprentices”,”Guards” and “Etc” on their own sign.

Potential Apprentices will head towards the very hall they entered just last night. The Mistress isn’t here this time. In her place there is a table and a long, open scroll of parchment with the words “APPRENTICE CONTRACT” written at the very top and a small, near indiscernible paragraph of what looks to be legal jargon under it. The only other obviously readable words say “SIGN HERE”. A quill and ink lies next to the parchment for this very purpose. Whether you linger to read the entire thing before you sign or simply sign, it doesn’t matter. If you get cold feet, you can leave. If you sign, a soldier will push yet another tome into your hands.

The tome contains a short, congratulatory spiel about the honor of being an Apprentice and proceeds to go into great detail about duties that sound an awful lot like castle maintenance. There’s talk of polishing knobs, sweeping corridors, wiping windows and mopping up after orgies but very little is said about magic.

It advises you to check the notice boards in the library at least once a month to accomplish tasks and earn coins. In the back of the book is a map that marks the important locations within the castle (including the location of your lovely, new room) and a sparse map of the kingdom. Think scribbles with “forest goes here” scrawled over the top.

Potential guards head into the courtyard, where a table is set up and surrounded by a small group of current guards. The table has a banner pinned to it that reads “GUARD SIGN-UPS” and upon approaching the table, you will be asked to beat one of the current guards in hand to hand combat. When that has been accomplished, they will ask about your previous experience with protective services, your experience with weapons and offer you the job. If you fail, you’ll be turned away (you also run the risk of being laughed out of the courtyard without a chance to prove yourself).

Upon signing up, a guard will take you on a tour of the castle, walking you through the barracks, the halls, the corridors and a few of the short cuts. You will be given a map, a weapon and taken to a nurse to unlock one of your powers (if you have one). Of course, you are warned of the consequences of misusing any of these privileges. Death, torture and a life spent in a prison cell are distinct possibilities.

They urge you to check the notice boards frequently for odd jobs to complete for extra spending money and shadow you while you try on your shiny, new uniform and tour the castle. You’ll be shadowed for about a week on duty before the guards get bored and let you do your own thing.

Finally, the et cetera. The last lot. You take your pride, your clothes and whatever you can fit in your pockets and you march with purpose (probably) toward your designated route. Maybe you’re angry, maybe you’re expecting a fight, maybe you’re getting fired up and ready to fight off anyone who tries to stop you.

You’ll be disappointed.

The corridor leads you to a very normal looking door that just...opens. Amazing. You step out of the castle and into the mud. It was raining, after all. There’s a guard there, waiting to escort you into the village. It’s about a ten minute trudge through the mud, and they lead you past beautiful towers, decent cottages and toward some worn down, empty shacks. One of these lovely hovels is yours to keep, and there’s even a little bit of food there for you.

You won’t get told anything about jobs or notice boards by the guard. Once they’ve dropped you off, that’s all the guard is obligated to do.

Snooping around the village will find you a notice board with jobs posted on it and information about some sort of tri-weekly market is readily available. If you want a job you’ll have to canvas, just like the good old days. The good news is that despite Mistress’ tyranny, the economy is pretty good. Many taverns, inns, apothecaries and brothels are hiring.

☆DAY TWO | THE FESTIVAL OF THE FOOL☆
The Off-Worlders have arrived at an opportune time, this month. People in the village might notice a hustle and bustle around them. Poles are mounted, banners are raised, euphemisms are crafted and everyone seems to be getting ready for something.

You don’t need to ask what it is, at first, because the banners indicate that it it’s April Fools. A little late in the month for it, you might think, but the occasion is celebrated for almost an entire month in this little Kingdom. After all, the Mistress does dearly love an opportunity to unleash malicious humor.

Thankfully, the festivities here are far from malicious. There’s food, drink, music and dancing all around town. Everyone is dressed in bright, colourful clothing and costumes and the Off-Worlders are encouraged to dance and celebrate alongside them. Cream pies, enchanted hand buzzers, the ol’ switcharoo with various possessions and other fairly lame pranks are standard.

Apprentices, guards and even outlier scum are encouraged to participate freely in the festival. It will be a week long binge of FUN.

-Food stalls provide free drinks of all flavours (some of which providing new sensations or strange tingles), cakes and baked goods (some of which are provided by the Fuck Bakery: Cakes that Make you Want to Fuck). It’s hard to differentiate the enhanced food from the regular food, but Off-Worlders will soon figure out that many people have a penchant for aphrodisiacs, enhancers and drugs in their food.

-Hookah pipes with many flavours to partake in, within silk tents amongst silk pillows for getting reeealllll comfortable. The warm, fruity scents are alluring and can have aphrodisiac-like effects if inhaled for long enough. They also lower the inhibitions and calm the mind, making everyone in the tent more open to suggestion.

-Jelly wrestling for prizes (of which you are free to take liberties) and shoulder wrestling for prizes (of which you are also free to take liberties) along with other familiar carnival games with erotic twists. Bobbing for candy dicks, pin the bikini on the nude girl, cock rodeos and extremely violent games of whack-a-mole.

-The brothels are in full force. Girls in ridiculous, skimpy costumes (think octopus, jesters or plague doctors) are outside selling their wares, they’re just too tempting to resist.

-Most exciting of all is the Fun Worm, who makes his way through the whole festival. He looks like six or so villagers under a really shitty costume, but it doesn’t seem to bother anyone. On closer inspection, you will be lured in by the fun pheromones and powerless to resist them. Inhaling fun pheromones forces a big, cheesy grin on your face. Suddenly, fun is the objective and your inhibitions are severely lowered for an hour or so. He’s constantly cycling around the festival, so it’s hard to avoid him. What’s important to note is that the Fun Worm is a new addition, a gift from the travelling Fun Cult to enhance the festivities. The Fun Cult has brought fun and laughter to kingdoms far and wide, although those kingdoms became a lot less prosperous when their priorities shifted from trade and farming to jello shots and week long benders.

The festivities continue even through nightfall (lanterns will be lit, some of which float through the sky of their own accord, bonfires with incredible scents will be lit too) and will do so for the rest of the week.

Comments

day two

[frenzies]

[She's wandering around in sort of a daze, and though it takes awhile for her to get up the proper spirit to actually enjoy herself, Alisha finds that it gets easier with a little bit of booze in her. She's even smiling a little, laughing occasionally—things she didn't expect herself to be doing so soon after what happened with Simon. Future Simon, her Simon. It feels wrong, but she's decided to just not think about it as much as possible.

That is, until, she stumbles into one of the hookah tents and sees Simon sitting there, wearing a cloak and looking...well, very not-uptight. She can't help but freeze, her mouth falling open into a tiny O.]

...Simon?

[shymon]

[For similar reasons, Simon is down in the dumps himself (though it's hard to tell, given his usual attitude). It's not the same without the gang here, he's gotten used to seeing them every day and he's out of sorts without them. If it measures up to their usual adventures, he's sure he'll see one of them. Soon. Eventually. Hopefully. He's not sure what to do without at least one of them, someone to help figure out what's happening and help escape from here.

Yet, with the intoxicating smells and general, carefree attitudes he's starting to feel... freer. Happier. He's sitting there, smiling to himself and holding his knees like he's a kid at a tea party. It's through a haze that he hears his name and when he turns, his smile grows wider.]

Alisha! [It's the most exuberant he's ever been, he's practically leaping up and striding toward her with a grin.] You're here too?

[frenzies]

[For a second, she thinks she's losing it. She thinks it's Future Simon, the way he greets her, the way he seems so jovial. But something's off—the way he was sitting, it isn't right, that's how the old Simon used to sit, and she feels a roller-coaster of butterflies in her stomach, up and then straight down to the pit.

Despite that, she manages a smile.]

Yeah. Yeah, I am. This is...weird, innit?

[She's seized by a sudden, desperate need to know who he is, to know how much he knows. To know if he's from the same time as her. She takes hold of the shoulder of his cloak and tugs him backward.]

What's the last thing you remember from home?

[shymon]

It's nothing like anything we've done before. [And he sounds.. fine with that. He's at peace with how things have happened and what might happen, which is weird because he was full of anxiety before sat down in here.

He fumbles when she takes hold of his cloak, but she lets her tug him backward all the same.]

I got kicked out of home, then I came to find everyone at the hotel. While you were all famous, but I stayed invisible. [He smiles. Again.] What about you?

[frenzies]

That's for damn sure.

[She lets her hand drop and stares up at him, trying to work things out in her head. So he's not Superhoodie. Not yet. God, she wishes the time travel didn't fuck with her head so badly trying to work it out.]

So you...has she told you yet? The me that's from your time. [Her mouth is suddenly very dry.] Are you and I...?

[shymon]

Told me what..? [Suddenly, somehow, some of the irreverence drains from him. He's still smiling, faintly, but his eyes have always betrayed him as far as hiding his emotions go. He looks worried.]

Me and you..? ..Dead? [It's not an unrealistic concern. Far more realistic, he thinks, than them ever getting together.]

[frenzies]

N— [She cuts off, startled, and laughs a little. God, he looks so worried, it's killing her. But more than that, the fact that he doesn't know yet is killing her even more.]

No, [she finishes.] Not dead. Together.

[Is this the right thing to say? The right way to do things? Hell if Alisha knows. She can barely keep her own timeline straight, let alone his, too. All she knows is she misses him like hell and she wants what they had back.]

[shymon]

[When Alisha laughs, Simon laughs too. He's not even sure what the joke is, but he can't help himself.

Then she gives him an answer, and that stops.]

Together..? [He tilts his head to the side, visibly confused.] You and me? [And then the laughter comes back, just a little. It's not how he'd usually react, but he feels compelled to.]

Are you trying to play a trick on me?

[frenzies]

[It's not quite the reaction she's looking for. Or, in truth, not at all the reaction she's looking for. Alisha watches as Simon seems to process her answer, and her eyebrows draw together as a hurt expression crosses her face.]

I—no, I'm not. I'm a bitch but I'm not—I'm not fucking cruel.

[Have they had this conversation before? Her head is swimming a little. The thought of Rudy and what she did to him swims to the surface of her mind and she pushes it back down. Not right now. She'll deal with that later, but it's not important right now.]

[shymon]

[When the hurt expression crosses her face, Simon's expression instantly fills with regret. He replies quickly, so much so that he stutters a little as he talks.]

I don't think you're a bitch- and I know you aren't cruel. You're a good person. [Now he needs to search for the words and comprehend his own confusion.] I just- I never thought you'd me interested... in me.

[He doesn't quite want to leave it at that, because his insecurity is annoying even to himself.] Does that mean we're together now?

[frenzies]

[Alisha takes a steadying breath, trying to remind herself not to let her emotions run away with her. This is probably as difficult a conversation for him as it is for her. As bewildering as it was the first time she saw Superhoodie take off his mask. She chews her lip, and despite her turmoil, the corner of her mouth lifts into a tiny smile.]

Trust me. I never thought I would, either.

[His question makes her pause. Alisha eyes him, a little wary.] That depends. Do you...want to be? I understand if you don't. This place is...well. 'Snot like you'd be lacking for opportunity.

[shymon]

Of course I want to be. [He says it without a moment of hesitation, his eyes widening to a shocking degree. He looks like a deer in the headlights- more so than usual- but he looks certain.

It's so strange, to feel certain when Alisha looks unsure and almost anxious. It makes his insides squirm- in a good way. He can't help smiling, even if he knows she's wary and serious.]

There's nobody like you here except you. [He steps in a little closer, gently taking her hand. He's certain, but still a little unsure. Just a little unconfident about the idea of her liking him so much.]

And.. I like you the most. I always have.

[frenzies]

[His certainty, the complete lack of hesitation, goes far in reassuring Alisha that telling him this wasn't a mistake. That maybe even here, they could have what she had with the other Simon. It makes her wariness melt away, replaced by a strange, giddy feeling when he takes her hand.]

Yeah? Well...if you're sure. I'd really like that. [Her smile is real and genuine, now, her stomach full of butterflies.] This is gonna sound weird, but...I missed you. A lot.

[shymon]

I haven't even been gone that long. [His smile grows, and his amusement starts to show in his voice and expression. He holds her hand tighter, tugging her closer to him as gently as he can.]

Is it alright if.. [He pauses, because he feels stupid, but he finds new resolve and starts again.] Is it alright if I kiss you?

[frenzies]

Maybe for you. [Alisha's already had to go through the bizarre sensation of mourning Simon right in front of his own living, breathing past self. For her, it's been far too long. She shakes her head. She doesn't want to think about that right now.

She lets Simon pull her closer, and her smile grows fond and soft.]

Yeah, of course. [She lets her hand slide up on his shoulder, over the rough weave of his cloak.]

[shymon]

[Momentary confusion takes a hold of Simon, but he doesn't dwell on it long. He knows he should question it, find out more information and understand the situation. But he's a boy, and he's thinking with his shaft, as usual.

Only, at least to him, it isn't just his shaft but his heart and his mind and all the parts of him that had been quietly and politely longing for Alisha to hold him in the same regard he holds her. It's a funny feeling, for her to be privy to something like this, and for her to turn his world upside down when he didn't think it could get any more muddled up.

When she slides her hands over him, his hands slide to cup her cheeks. He leans in and presses his lips against hers softly, it's gentle and experimental. He's not used to this and he's certainly not a pro, but what he lacks in skill he makes up for with tenderness.]

[frenzies]

[Later on, she'll tell him everything. For now, she's content to just enjoy this moment without things getting more complicated than they need to be. She has him back, and even if it's not quite the same right now, it will be. She has that much confidence.

Alisha smiles, feeling his hands on either side of her face, and lets her lashes flutter closed as he leans into her. He tastes just like she remembered, except a little sweeter with alcohol and hookah smoke. She takes the lead, but it's still a soft and tender kiss. She tries to pour all of her love for him into that kiss, into the way she presses against him.]