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Post by Lizica on Oct 31, 2014 15:40:15 GMT -5
Man, that last house you visited was really something. As you're walking down the road, streetlamps glowing overhead, candy jangling in your trick-or-treat bag, you catch your breath and resolve to visit a normal house next. You set your sights for your next stop: a quaint little white single-story house, brightly decorated with many cute Halloween decorations.
You go up to the door and ring the doorbell. As you wait for the house's resident to answer, you pause to admire the decorations on the porch. There are paper bats hung from the roof, fake cobwebs dangling in the cracks, a Mylar skeleton that twirls alongside the wind chimes, and some pumpkins. ...Actually, LOTS of pumpkins. The porch is a veritable sea of orange, as if the pumpkins are all part of some massive whole. Some are left plain, many are carved into jack-o'-lanterns--some masterfully carved in a wide variety of expressions and characters; others as generic and sloppy as jack-o'-lanterns come. You try to count just how many pumpkins there are. It seems like a ridiculous amount when compared to the size of this tiny house.
Your thoughts are cut short when you hear footsteps and the front door beginning to open. You prepare yourself for your customary "Trick-or-Treat!" mantra, but you're once again cut short when the door opens just a crack, makes a grunching noise, and is stopped by a chain lock. The house's resident peers out at you from the sliver of the open door.
"Are you alone?" she asks in a conspiratorial whisper.
You hesitate, glance over your shoulder, back at the sea of pumpkins, and finally back to the lady behind the door. From what you can tell, she's barely even got a costume, with only an orange hooded cape. In fact, judging from her sweatshirt and tennis shoes, she actually looks as if she was expecting to run a ten-mile marathon and only threw on the cape as some meager last-minute semblance of festivity.
...You look around again, having second thoughts about this house, but finally you answer slowly in the affirmative, that you're pretty sure you're the only one here.
"Oh good!" the girl says, relieved--and then she slams the door in your face. Before you can properly respond, you hear her voice from behind the door as she rattlingly undoes the door's chain lock. "Every year I rent a house to hand out candy, and I swear, every year something goes wrong. Usually ghosts or zombies or something gets in. Can't be too careful. But this year it's going to be fine! The only thing the landlord mentioned about this house was that I should under no circumstances disturb the Halloween decorations. But that's pretty easy, though--they're cute, aren't they?"
Finally, you hear her hefting what sounds like a big bowl of candy, and she opens the door with a bright swish.
...Maybe she opened the door a little too enthusiastically.
The gust of wind kicked up from the opened door reaches the nearest jack-o'-lantern and snuffs out its candle. Then, inexplicably, the jack-o'-lantern beside that one also goes out.
And the next.
...And the next.
Suddenly the whole porch has gone dark in the absence of the pumpkin lights--and then the streetlights follow suit and all go out in quick succession.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" you hear the exasperated lady's voice in the dark.
Abruptly, the lights come back on. Candles are suddenly re-lit. But--hmm, that's odd--you seem to be standing inside a giant, hollowed out chamber--almost like a two-faced jack-o'-lantern, one side smiling, one side frowning. And you're probably getting pumpkin gunk all over your costume. And you didn't even get any candy from the house resident. This is just swell.
Well. No use dwelling on it. You've seen stranger things tonight.
You can climb out through the smiling jack-o'-lantern's mouth (though it looks like it may lead into another pumpkin, and you hear distant flapping noises).
Or you can climb out through the frowning jack-o'-lantern's mouth (also leading into another pumpkin--but it looks dark, and you hear crackling).
Or you could try to snuff out the huge candle in the center of this pumpkin. Be careful, though.
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Post by Layla "Nimbus" Karimi on Oct 31, 2014 16:45:48 GMT -5
As she approaches the quaint little house, Sporty pauses for a moment to check out the pumpkins. She's always loved pumpkin carving, and can't help but admire some of the more creative and elaborate jack-o-lanterns out there. She also can't help but wonder if the mystery carver roasted any of the seeds after cleaning the pumpkins out. There must have been a ton of them. Mmm, pumpkin seeds.
But candy awaits!
... Or not. Sporty twirls around in the air, nearly bumping into her own tail as she does so, to get a better look at her surroundings. Well, she certainly hadn't been expecting to get this close to the jack-o-lanterns.
The flapping noises grab the temporary mermaid's attention, and she lets out an involuntary squeal. "Bats!" she cries, and immediately darts through the smiling jack-o-lantern's mouth.
...What? It's as good a way to choose as any, and following the happy face is probably a good sign in any case. Probably.
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Post by Coaster on Oct 31, 2014 17:44:23 GMT -5
At the mention of bats (and ignoring the presupposition that nobody else was here, as some mermaid had just gone out right ahead of him), Coaster has a sinking feeling he's in the wrong game and laments the fact that he didn't bring even a piece of his trusty old Chespin costume.
Noentheless, he readies up his rainbow gun and shoots the huge candle in the center of the room, then climbs out the frowny mouth and hides behind the lower lip to see what happens. (He may or may not be expecting a disco inferno. *shot*)
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Post by Gelquie on Oct 31, 2014 19:03:35 GMT -5
A figure walks up to the house, dressed in what seems to be a black cloak, covering nearly everything (although if you looked closely in the proper lighting, you could probably still see a female's face), and the person was carrying a scythe. As they approached the house, they were quick to note the woman's odd behavior, so she waited for her to finish before going into their usual routine.
Well, turns out they didn't have much of a chance, for they were shifted to another dimension.
"...Well shoot," they muttered to themselves. Sighing, they look around before spotting the candle. Well, if the candles brought them here, maybe it would bring them out. Then again, if it didn't work, it would be very dark... Maybe it was better to try exploring the area first. Hmm, what was that crackling sound? They decide to investigate, and climb through the frowny face side.
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Post by Lizica on Oct 31, 2014 20:16:59 GMT -5
As she approaches the quaint little house, Sporty pauses for a moment to check out the pumpkins. She's always loved pumpkin carving, and can't help but admire some of the more creative and elaborate jack-o-lanterns out there. She also can't help but wonder if the mystery carver roasted any of the seeds after cleaning the pumpkins out. There must have been a ton of them. Mmm, pumpkin seeds. But candy awaits! ... Or not. Sporty twirls around in the air, nearly bumping into her own tail as she does so, to get a better look at her surroundings. Well, she certainly hadn't been expecting to get this close to the jack-o-lanterns. The flapping noises grab the temporary mermaid's attention, and she lets out an involuntary squeal. "Bats!" she cries, and immediately darts through the smiling jack-o-lantern's mouth. ...What? It's as good a way to choose as any, and following the happy face is probably a good sign in any case. Probably. You finish climbing through and find...what looks like laundry doing itself, shaking out the linen with a flap and then hanging up the ethereal sheets on a clothesline made of pumpkin strands. "Oh hello," says a voice upon noticing you. It seems to be coming from the area where an invisible someone might be pinning up the sheets. "Were you expecting bats? Perhaps there would have been bats if they'd been unexpected. But anyway--" The invisible air pulls a sheet from the clothesline and throws it over themselves, the eye holes matching up perfectly. The ghost in the sheet clears its throat. "WoooOOOooooOOO! You're doomed, mortal! DOOMED!!" "You're being overdramatic, Mildred," says another voice, flapping another sheet on the other side of the pumpkin room. Behind them (through them?) you can see two tunnels of pumpkin pulp, one leading up and one leading down. You're feeling maybe a little weirded out. You can try either of the tunnels ahead, or maybe you could offer to help the ghosts with laundry. Or you could even ask them about how to get out of here. You never know, maybe they'd be helpful. At the mention of bats (and ignoring the presupposition that nobody else was here, as some mermaid had just gone out right ahead of him), Coaster has a sinking feeling he's in the wrong game and laments the fact that he didn't bring even a piece of his trusty old Chespin costume. Noentheless, he readies up his rainbow gun and shoots the huge candle in the center of the room, then climbs out the frowny mouth and hides behind the lower lip to see what happens. (He may or may not be expecting a disco inferno. *shot*) A figure walks up to the house, dressed in what seems to be a black cloak, covering nearly everything (although if you looked closely in the proper lighting, you could probably still see a female's face), and the person was carrying a scythe. As they approached the house, they were quick to note the woman's odd behavior, so she waited for her to finish before going into their usual routine. Well, turns out they didn't have much of a chance, for they were shifted to another dimension. "...Well shoot," they muttered to themselves. Sighing, they look around before spotting the candle. Well, if the candles brought them here, maybe it would bring them out. Then again, if it didn't work, it would be very dark... Maybe it was better to try exploring the area first. Hmm, what was that crackling sound? They decide to investigate, and climb through the frowny face side. The huge candle flares up briefly with shots of color when you shoot at it, but beyond lighting up a pumpkin seed in a rainbow-colored fireball, it doesn't seem to do anything. (Hm, is that dangerous? Oh well.) As both of you clamber into the darkened frown chamber, the crackling noise grows louder, then softer, then obnoxiously loud, then it seems to have a hint of a voice in it. Actually, it sounds almost like an old, scratched recording. "GREETINGS," it recites. And with a firework-like blaze of sparks (not quite a disco inferno), a second candle is lit in the center of the room, illuminating an old 1940's radio on a wheeled cart and not one, but two additional jack-o'-lantern faces for you to potentially follow next. "GREETINGS," says the old radio again. As it speaks, loose sparks continue to fly from it, almost jittery with excitement. (Try not to catch fire yourself.) "ONE FACE INCREDULOUS, THE OTHER IN GLEE; ONE LEADS TO BANQUET, THE OTHER YOU FLEE. PERHAPS THEY'RE THE SAME, BUT FROM TWO DIFFERENT SIDES. BUT ALSO TAKE NOTE I'M THE WORST OF ALL GUIDES." |
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Post by ♥ Azzie on Oct 31, 2014 20:49:16 GMT -5
Azzie's clambered through the smiling face before even thinking about it. A peculiar expression comes onto her face; it almost looks like a thoughtful grin, though it's hard to tell when her face is wreathed with leaves. She skips up to the ghosts.
"My name's Azzie!" she chirps. "Want some help?"
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Post by Layla "Nimbus" Karimi on Oct 31, 2014 21:53:43 GMT -5
Sporty bites back a sigh at the distinct lack of bats. That's what she gets for making assumptions, she supposes, but she just couldn't resist getting her hopes up. "Oh, um. Oops?" she says with a sheepish smile. "Heh, nice sheet ghost um, Mildred was it?"
Sporty is actually rather curious about the two pulpy tunnels, but upon hearing Azzie's offer she remembers her manners and decides to save further investigation for later. She smiles again. "Yeah, is there anything we can help you with here?"
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Post by Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff) on Oct 31, 2014 22:24:45 GMT -5
"Hm...this is quite the predicament." Cassie muses, her heart betraying the placidity of her voice.
If there was one thing she knew, however, it was that beauty--and perhaps candy--were in the eye of the beholder--and she was currently beholding the eyes AND mouth of the jack o lantern, was she not?
"IT'S UP THERE! IT HAS TO BE!" She crows, digging handholds and footholds to try and climb up into the eye hole...
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Post by Coaster on Oct 31, 2014 22:32:50 GMT -5
The huge candle flares up briefly with shots of color when you shoot at it, but beyond lighting up a pumpkin seed in a rainbow-colored fireball, it doesn't seem to do anything. (Hm, is that dangerous? Oh well.) As both of you clamber into the darkened frown chamber, the crackling noise grows louder, then softer, then obnoxiously loud, then it seems to have a hint of a voice in it. Actually, it sounds almost like an old, scratched recording. "GREETINGS," it recites. And with a firework-like blaze of sparks (not quite a disco inferno), a second candle is lit in the center of the room, illuminating an old 1940's radio on a wheeled cart and not one, but two additional jack-o'-lantern faces for you to potentially follow next. "GREETINGS," says the old radio again. As it speaks, loose sparks continue to fly from it, almost jittery with excitement. (Try not to catch fire yourself.) "ONE FACE INCREDULOUS, THE OTHER IN GLEE; ONE LEADS TO BANQUET, THE OTHER YOU FLEE. PERHAPS THEY'RE THE SAME, BUT FROM TWO DIFFERENT SIDES. BUT ALSO TAKE NOTE I'M THE WORST OF ALL GUIDES." After recovering from the childlike wonder of the light show, Coaster picks up the radio and heads towards the incredulous face. "Can't be any worse a guide than Wheatley, anyways, can you?" As for his reasoning... well, Glee kinda started tanking after the second season, and incredulous is a funny word. #TheMindOfCoaster |
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Post by Gelquie on Oct 31, 2014 23:06:42 GMT -5
Hmm, trying again to take out the candle seemed tempting, but at the same time, the Reaper didn't seem to have anything with which to put out the fire. At least, not without risk. They decided to take some more time exploring the pumpkins before exploring that option.
They listened to the recording carefully, and nodded, agreeing with the record's lack of good directions. But at least it gave them a hint of where to go, or at least what to expect if they went the wrong way. "Well, thank youfor the forewarning, at least," the Reaper said. They glanced at the two faces. Hmm, there didn't seem to be any indication of which one was a better path. So they decided to take a probably mistaken way of thinking of the situation and decided that the gleeful face was the one to flee, due to it being misleading and because that was where the rhyme lay. With a nod and a wave to the record, the Reaper exited through the Incredulous Pumpkin Face.
Or if it's not easy to tell which is which, the one they assume is the Incredulous one, I suppose?
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Post by Lizica on Nov 1, 2014 2:13:56 GMT -5
Azzie's clambered through the smiling face before even thinking about it. A peculiar expression comes onto her face; it almost looks like a thoughtful grin, though it's hard to tell when her face is wreathed with leaves. She skips up to the ghosts. "My name's Azzie!" she chirps. "Want some help?" Sporty bites back a sigh at the distinct lack of bats. That's what she gets for making assumptions, she supposes, but she just couldn't resist getting her hopes up. "Oh, um. Oops?" she says with a sheepish smile. "Heh, nice sheet ghost um, Mildred was it?" Sporty is actually rather curious about the two pulpy tunnels, but upon hearing Azzie's offer she remembers her manners and decides to save further investigation for later. She smiles again. "Yeah, is there anything we can help you with here?" "Ah! Lovely!" says the ghost Mildred. "And thank you--it's designer Posthumous Bedsheets," she adds to the mermaid. Still wearing the sheet, she hands each of you a hamper of wet laundry. Both of them phase straight through you, seeing as it is ethereal laundry, and you're corporeal. Before you can offer some kind of apology for your shortcoming, a tremendous screech reverberates from the upwards pulpy tunnel. Swiftly after, you hear a squishing sound, and the girl who greeted you at the front door slides right down the tunnel into your midst, trailing bits of candy behind her. " Giant monster bat!!" she gasps at you in warning before she hauls herself up, pumpkin goop and all, and barrels away in her tennis shoes through the jack-o'-lantern's smile. "You're RUINING the SUSPENSE and the MYSTERY OF DOOM!" cries Mildred the ghost, sounding vaguely upset. She turns back to you. "Some people just don't know how to keep Halloween surprises, honestly." "But since you were both very nice and offered to help," says the other ghost, still invisible, "we'll tell you a secret: If you can find a good enough pumpkin seed, you can chisel right through pumpkin walls." Mildred says something remorsefully about how she hopes that won't ruin any more surprises, but she doesn't object. "Hm...this is quite the predicament." Cassie muses, her heart betraying the placidity of her voice. If there was one thing she knew, however, it was that beauty--and perhaps candy--were in the eye of the beholder--and she was currently beholding the eyes AND mouth of the jack o lantern, was she not? "IT'S UP THERE! IT HAS TO BE!" She crows, digging handholds and footholds to try and climb up into the eye hole... As you're climbing, a lady in a pulp-covered orange cape runs through the jack-o'-lantern's mouth underneath you, almost catches on fire by stepping on the rainbow-y blaze of a pumpkin seed, and keeps running. With great skill and concentration, however, you manage to make it up to the jack-o'-lantern's eye hole! It moves. And looks at you. "Clearly she's going in the right direction," says the smiling jack-o'-lantern face. "Clearly she's going in the wrong direction," says the frowning jack-o'-lantern face. Oh dear, with both faces talking, their mouths are sort of impassable now. Keep trying? Listen to the two faces speak? Talk back to them? After recovering from the childlike wonder of the light show, Coaster picks up the radio and heads towards the incredulous face. "Can't be any worse a guide than Wheatley, anyways, can you?" As for his reasoning... well, Glee kinda started tanking after the second season, and incredulous is a funny word. #TheMindOfCoaster Hmm, trying again to take out the candle seemed tempting, but at the same time, the Reaper didn't seem to have anything with which to put out the fire. At least, not without risk. They decided to take some more time exploring the pumpkins before exploring that option. They listened to the recording carefully, and nodded, agreeing with the record's lack of good directions. But at least it gave them a hint of where to go, or at least what to expect if they went the wrong way. "Well, thank youfor the forewarning, at least," the Reaper said. They glanced at the two faces. Hmm, there didn't seem to be any indication of which one was a better path. So they decided to take a probably mistaken way of thinking of the situation and decided that the gleeful face was the one to flee, due to it being misleading and because that was where the rhyme lay. With a nod and a wave to the record, the Reaper exited through the Incredulous Pumpkin Face. Or if it's not easy to tell which is which, the one they assume is the Incredulous one, I suppose?The radio in your arms continues to crackle. "WAS WHEATLEY A MORON, WHEN I CLAIM THAT I AM; IS IT BETTER TO BE LOST OR IN TRAFFIC JAMMED?" Both of you climb through the incredulous face just as some kind of pandemonium erupts behind you, but you don't have to pay that any heed--because whoa! Look at all this, you've stumbled upon the biggest pumpkin interior yet! Dozens of candles line the pulpy walls, and there's a long, lush dinner table laid out at the room's center. Each platter is still covered, but steam leaks out from underneath, and it smells like fresh pumpkin pie, snickerdoodles, and gingerbread lattes. There's even a pitcher of pumpkin juice and a pitcher of hot cocoa at the end of the table. You're sort of hungry from all the craziness of your trick-or-treating route, but do you really want to dig in? It smells like there's plenty to choose from if you do, but if you don't, there appears to be a pulpy hallway beyond that must lead onwards. |
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Post by Gelquie on Nov 1, 2014 2:54:42 GMT -5
...Well, the Reaper may be the Reaper, but they remember the fine smells of fine foods from their life. (Nevermind the fact that this memory is assisted by the fact that the Reaper is just a costume.) On the other hand, the Reaper suspected that it might be a trap. Or if it isn't... Well, it'd be bad to waste food.
On the other hand, there are a lot of candles. Feast or no, a candle could come in handy if they arrive somewhere dark. The Reaper walks over and tries to lift one of the candles from the walls. Whether or not they succeed, they go back to the table and look inside one of the platters. So... tempting... Well, how much could a little bit hurt? If they find a pie beneath and it looks okay, they begin to eat some of that.
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Post by Coaster on Nov 1, 2014 4:16:00 GMT -5
Coaster, likewise, approaches the table; he first goes for the hot cocoa, then opens the first tray to his left. He isn't really paying attention to what's underneath yet, though--just seeing if he can peer into the pulpy hallway for a glimpse of what's to come while he piles up his plate with whatever deliciously sweet contents are underneath the lid.
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Post by Layla "Nimbus" Karimi on Nov 1, 2014 9:25:24 GMT -5
And just when Sporty was finally promised real bats, they turn out to be the giant monster kind. What a shame.
Sporty turns tail (literally) and makes to follow Lizica. She looks back in the general direction of the ghosts and says, "Sorry I couldn't help! Thanks for the advice!"
Before she can follow Lizica through the smiling mouth, though, it starts moving as the jack-o-lantern speaks. Sporty bites her lip and turns back around, diving through the downward-sloping tunnel instead in hopes of escaping the monster. She keeps a lookout for good pumpkin seeds in the meantime.
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Post by Liou on Nov 1, 2014 10:53:40 GMT -5
The be-tuxedo'd tentacular catgirl notices how many people have already walked towards the quaint, well-decorated little house, fears that there will be no candy left, and hurries after them.
She is very, very, very careful not to let her tentacles upset any of the decorations, and very disappointed when the girl at the door causes all the pumpkin candles to be blown out. ;n;
She gets distracted by the walls inside the pumpkin and spends quite a while licking them. They're a bit slippery even for her tentacles.
She notices the frowny face, tries without success to turn its frown upside-down or to lift its corners, then crawls through it for something else to do. She hears a crackling sound ahead, as well as other people, and takes the liberty of following them to the next chamber, if that's OK and nobody stops her.
Assuming that she got to the same place, she hears the radio message, misses the other explorers by an inch, but decides to dive through the Gleeful Face with a "Wheeeee" in an attempt to make a small rhyme.
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