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Post by June Scarlet on Apr 24, 2020 20:19:38 GMT -5
Jess was surprised that the house talked back. With an attitude at that. Except it was two different voices, and probably were people behind the glamor, at second thought. Well, if the voices were willing to talk about what was wrong with the house, maybe they were willing to talk about what was really wrong with the house. "Hey, house voices, what we were really wondering was why your house is under a glamor to begin with. And also why there's a puzzle of your house raining from the sky." Taffy chittered. "Oh right, I'm supposed to be looked for breaks in the spell," said Jess. As she waited for a reply to her question, she looked at the porch. The wind chime was blowing in the wind. But that wasn't right; it wasn't windy. And the railing of the porch under the wind chime had a broken piece. She turned to a nearby grownup, one she recognized from when her school photo was taken. "Hey Mr. Evi, you noticed that wind chime? It's moving, but I don't think there's any wind. And there's a piece missing from the railing below it. In fact, the more I look at this house, the more it looks a bit shabby, though still a nice house." Jess asks the house voices the Real Questions - why is their house under a glamor and on raining puzzle pieces. She also points out a couple differences the school photographer. RielCZ
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Post by Gelquie on Apr 24, 2020 22:14:51 GMT -5
Era dutifully followed Ray and the others, eager to follow the clue to the end! They still wondered about the colors on the back, and if they meant anything, but just as the others had no leads, neither did Era. But that didn't mean they'd never figure it out; it must've been one of those things they really had to think about! Those were fun! They spent most of the walk indulging in the treats that Aggie thankfully provided. They were so swept up in the moment, they'd forgotten they were hungry! And of course, they were grateful to have the saucer to test! It was just... hard to do so while also holding the sweets, so it would have to wait! They'd finished it off just as they approached the house. Era only wished Ray could stay; think of the perspective he could provide, if this house really did offer a clue to the odd weather. And the chance for Era to prove their ability to figure it out right to him! But no, he was right, he was a father now to some beautiful lizards. Maybe it wouldn't take him that long, and he could come back... Era didn't know. They weren't a parent. But they happily waved at Ray (with the handle holding the saucer, of course!) as he left, waving frantically as if their life depending on ensuring that Ray absolutely remembered them. Era took turns glancing between the departing Ray and the saucer, checking for changes... But nothing seemed to happen to the saucer either. They tried multiple ways, because they had to be absolutely sure! Finally, they were convinced that they did not, in fact, have color-shifting powers, and they finally glanced at the house as they gratefully returned the saucer to Aggie. It was a very nice looking house. It must've had some nice views; some of them seemed great for cloud-gazing! If only they had a balcony; that'd make it better. But still, it was a very nice place! Though Era didn't miss the shifts either, which were chalked up to illusion magic. The changes, the colors, Era was eager to investigate! ...After it stopped making them dizzy! They ended up spending most of their time looking at the clouds, looking for illusion breaks there. But they remained the same as always, barring normal changes in the wind or normal-for-the-time-but-abnormal events that had nothing to do with illusions. It was also in part to help put their vision back in equilibirum. While they were handling their vision, they casually listened to the others point things out, and how there were... responses from inside. Ah ha! Perhaps there were people behind this. If they were indeed the ones behind these fantastic things, they had to be talked to! They had to find a way in, dizzying magic or no! "Hey, we're just here to talk!" Era called out. "Like Jess said, the house pointed to you, and we're just really curious! Or I am, at least! There's so much interesting stuff going on and it's been great to investigate! It just means that we have to look into you too, that's all, you can be part of the fun too! So can you... drop the illusion? It's kinda hurting my eyes. No disrespect, it's a great illusion! I love the shifting ivy along the left side of the house, it's a nice but dizzying touch to the garden! Same with the gem below and a couple fenceposts to the left of it on the ground, did you get gem rain, looks like you've made the best of it, makes for a great scavenger hunt!" Era is distracted by several things! ...And actually finds the illusion magic kinda dizzying, so they spend a while looking in the safer places to look and thus all the wrong places. But anyway, Era has returned the saucer to Aggie ( Celestial) after testing with it and finding that's not doing anything either, how curious! They also appreciate Aggie's treats. Era waves frantically to Ray as he leaves, thinking well of his very responsible lizard parenting! but also hoping he returns soon so Era can show off get his perspective on the developing mystery! Era really wants to investigate further and flat-out tells the mysterious residents this while showering them with compliments and also a little complaint on how the illusion is hurting their eyes... But that the reappearing ivy and the gem between fenceposts way to the left is a nice touch!
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Post by Huntress on Apr 25, 2020 5:51:37 GMT -5
Jeff had gone on for a couple of blocks, the large puzzle piece under one arm and his bag hanging in the other, when he became increasingly aware that he was being watched. Sure, you had to make concessions for towns like these - there seemed to be a number of lizards lazily ogling at him from lampposts, and few things are better at disconcerting ogling than lizards. But this feeling was different, and a few years ago Jeff had gained what he preferred to refer to as extra insight, who he strongly suspected had many more eyes than he did. So he stopped, looked around, concentrated, looked again with more eyes than he was normally comfortable using, and leaned over the nearest fence. "Are you following me?" he asked, hoping inwardly that his voice was sounding grumpily confident rather than slightly freaked out. There was a moment's silence, then a number of small dark blue faces popped up from under the bushes in the garden. "Couldn't help but notice that you have something particularly nice-smelling in that bag," Bloody Mary said amiably. "Was wondering if you might be inclined to share." Jeff blink-blinked a few times to find that he was talking to a gang of plump rodents, then was almost equally disturbed to realize that somehow it was disturbing him much less than it by rights should. At least these didn't seem to have fallen from the sky. Then he realized what was actually being asked, and looked at the bag he was carrying. "Um, you mean my nan's aprogoat tarts?" he asked. The Meepits, who were culinary connoisseurs of the indiscriminate variety, perked up at once. "Can't say I've heard of it," said Joe the Chef, and Jeff took an involuntary step back when the Meepits crowded out from the garden through the fence and onto the street to stare up at him. Turned out that they were better at disconcerting ogling than lizards. Jeff hesitated for a moment, but then sat down in front of the gang and opened his bag. In truth, he was more of a beer and burgers kind of guy, and had currently been on his way to the post office to mail the tarts to his parents back home with the vague reasoning that they might appreciate nan's cooking a bit more, but this called for a redistribution of priorities. "Well, they're made with apricot jam and goat cheese," he said, digging out the box. "Hence, um, the name. So my nan says, anyway. You're welcome to it," he added helplessly, as the Meepits happily crowded around and started devouring the tarts. "Ooh, bacon. Bacon is always good." "Nah, that's prosciutto," said Joe the Chef. "What's the difference?" "Same thing, just foreign." The others nodded appreciatively. Foreign was often a good way to approach food. When Jeff set out again, he was a bit annoyed to find that the Meepits now seemed happy to follow him. At the same time, this had to be good luck in some form or other, right? Feeding the hungry or somesuch? Or maybe it was just his nan's way of explaining away her tendency to feed the neighborhood cats. And cats weren't normally this chatty. Jeff groaned inwardly. Why did it seem so hard to just live a normal life for once? Or at least like, the good kind of exciting, not talking-to-rodents exciting? For a moment, he was tempted to hit the nearest pub, get a burger and beer he'd suddenly started to crave, probably get another one for the Meepits because they could jolly well listen to his woes in exchange for the aprogoat tarts if they were so intent on tagging along, and see if things felt better after a pint. But then he remembered the puzzle piece under his arm and brightened up a little. Maybe this was the ticket, after all. A while later, having found other puzzle-solvers and tagged along with them to the abandoned house, Jeff hung back and watched the proceedings cautiously. He wasn't local to this town and a talking house sounded something the residents were welcome to tackle on their own thank-you-very-much. The Meepits, who were now riding in his duffel bag instead of the cleaned-out box, seemed intrigued by the illusion house, however. Aprogoat tarts are an actual thing and they're delicious.
No actual item-finding or interaction in this post, I'm just catching myself up to the plot while turning Jeff and the Meepits into a thing, coming soon to a concert hall near you. Jeff now has a team of tagalong rodents, a vague desire for life to be more interesting but not too interesting, and is currently willing to hang back and see what happens with the spooky house.
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Post by Kat on Apr 25, 2020 8:37:52 GMT -5
"Uh...thanks!" After a moment of hesitation, Cassidy bent down to pick up some of the fruit and slid them into a pouch hanging from her sash, next to her wand. She looked down at the golf balls mixed with the fruit, unsure whether she wanted to know why the homeowners had unneeded golf balls lying around, or if she should take them. In any case, the others were asking the questions that were on her mind, so she was content to wait for some proper answers and allow everyone else a crack at figuring out the illusion house. Maybe the apparition will collapse with more different pairs of eyes following it. With a shrug, she decided to take a couple of golf balls. Cassidy was dreadful at golf, but perhaps she could find some use for them. They had come in contact with the strange house, after all, and could be used in some spells. Even if most of those types of spells were out of her league. That was the price of focusing mostly on healing magic; she was pretty much useless as long as no one was getting injured. After taking the golf balls, from the corner of her eye, Cassidy noticed Jeff staying away from the crowd, with...a duffel bag full of Meepits? She approached him - and for some reason, she did it slowly, as though he were a skittish animal that might bolt at the first sign of perceived danger, even if the perceived danger came from an amateur healer in purple and blue who just took a few freebies (albeit with permission) from the house's front yard. "Not a fan of weird illusion houses?" she asked him. Cassidy accepts the invitation to take some of the fruit (and the golf balls) from the homeowners ( Lizica and Pixie) and leaves the others to continue solving this puzzle in favor of approaching Jeff and his brand new band of Meepits ( Huntress).
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Post by Celestial on Apr 25, 2020 9:49:57 GMT -5
"Is there... something in that middle window? In the bottom right corner, I swear something keeps popping up there. That isn't a... person, is it?"Aggie narrowed her eyes. Indeed, there was a person there, watching them! Oddly, she could not tell who it was. Given that she knew almost every single person in the town- normally because she had plied them with tea and cakes- this was rather strange. And then the voices came from the house. Definitely not ones she could place, although it may have been because they were distant and coming from the strange illusion. This piqued Aggie's curiosity. What else was hiding in that house, and why would fellow magic users be trying to disguise things like that? Most importantly, was this somehow connected to the odd weather. "Dearies, perhaps you can come out here and we can have a lovely conversation. What sort of cakes do you like? I have a lovely sponge cake, or perhaps chocolate fudge? If cake is not your thing, I am sure I can rustle up some custard creams. All allergies accounted for!" Aggie reached into her basket and with a flick of her hand withdrew the peace offering. "Perhaps we can also give you a bit of a hand? I noticed there were some numbers stuck in your birch tree along with that keyhole. Is that supposed to be there? And your steps..." Aggie clicked her tongue. "They could do with a clean." H-oolong, meanwhile, was getting bored. All this talk of illusion houses was fine and dandy but it was interrupting his long-desired nap. As if his sleep schedule was not ruined enough. Of course, when he could not sleep, he got rather hungry... His head rotated around and his eyes landed upon something...unusual. Rats, but what looks like blue ones, and round too. Possibly fat. They looked far more dangerous than regular rats, of course, but what was a little danger without some excitement? The tawny owl took off from his perch upon the house and swooped down upon the shoulder of the man carrying the duffel bag full of rats, taking the chance to study them. Learn their movements. Track their weaknesses. Aggie agrees with Gibi( Twillie) and then addresses the voices in the house ( Pixie, Lizica) offering them some cake and pointing out the numbers in their tree and the sorry state of their steps. Meanwhile, H-oolong cannot sleep and is hungry. He is eyeing the Meepits...( Huntress)
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Post by Pixie on Apr 25, 2020 19:14:44 GMT -5
There was no fanfare when the glamour illusion finally slipped entirely. It didn’t implode with a reverberating shockwave, or shatter and fall in a rerun of the glitter rain. The illusion simply was there, weakened, and then it wasn’t.
While the glamour had made the house look somewhat stately and tidy, the glamour’s lifting revealed its true appearance in all its...non-splendor. As the group of dedicated puzzlers had observed, it was a little worse for wear overall. A fence post was broken. A support in the railing was broken. A window was broken. Its porch light was broken. The stairsteps had deteriorated at some parts into a light rubble. The lower brickwork had a long, deep discoloration that looked like it must have had an unhappy history with water damage.
As the group watched, the crow flew away, releasing from the strange birch tree a branch that then knocked even more golf balls loose from the rooftop and into the unkempt garden. The garden itself had a look as if it hadn’t been weeded in months, and like most of the gardens in Uffnewt these days, it had a heavily bedraggled, lightly glittery sheen and a lot of mud puddles. Some of the plants looked like they were still trying to hang in there, at least: The climbing rose was still (over)growing over the trellis; the brilliant blue hydrangeas were only somewhat wilted; the dark purple irises just underneath the eaves had somehow managed to retain their primness; and a potted plant was growing well enough that it had half obscured the tasteless plastic pink lawn flamingo it was precariously balanced upon.
To be frank, the house as a whole was in such a sorry state that it was likely no one would have wanted to pay much attention to it at all, had it not been for the jigsaw puzzle and the glamour illusion.
But they were here now, and regardless of whether or not the homeowner was involved with Uffnewt’s strange weather, it still seemed reasonable to try to speak with them more properly than just yelling back and forth over the fence.
Someone moved forward to the gate of the picket fence again, hoping that it might be unlocked now that the glamour had been lifted. They pushed it--to no avail. They pulled it--also to no avail. They rattled the gate back and forth--and still nothing, except...
A beleaguered sigh.
“...Can we help you?” came an exasperated voice. It was the same annoyed voice the group had been conversing with earlier, but now without the glamour in place, it was clear that the voice was not coming from a great distance away within the house at all, but instead from--...
From the plastic lawn flamingo?
The vibrant green leaves of the plant upon its back moved in an approximation of a person putting hands on their hips--except the two red ones that seemed to perfectly mimic a pair of human lips. “Seriously, though, why are you here shouting outside our house?” she added.
“Uh, we were--we were just...looking at your house?” sputtered one of the townspeople.
“Alright, so what exactly is this, then? A spontaneous home inspection? An angry mob? An inquisition?” the flamingo demanded wearily as his paint-chipped plastic eye roved over the large group just outside the fence. “We don’t know why the house would be on a puzzle, of all things, and if you just came here to talk or eat cake, we could have done with some advance notice, and less outright yelling.” He glanced at the photographer and someone with a notebook. “Or is this some kind of interview? Some kind of flash mob surprise home renovation show? Well, we don’t want it.”
“Er--we--” managed the one who had tried to open the gate. “N-not at all, we just wanted to--... I guess it is an investigation-- But it’s about the crazy weather, and we thought we might...talk to the person who lives here? That’s not you two, is it?”
“Of course not,” said the flamingo. “Our job is just to guard the gate. No one can come in through the fence unless we say so. We’re a respectable home security system.”
“So...can we come in?” another townsperson asked hopefully.
The hotlips plant shook her head and grinned.
“...Are you kidding?!” the flamingo exclaimed. “All of you just spent the last fifteen minutes ripping down a carefully constructed security glamour and criticizing every tiny little thing that struck your fancy!”
“We hoped that such an illusion would deter trespassers,” added the red-lipped plant, nodding at the young magician in response to her earlier question.
“Besides,” the flamingo continued, “the lady of the house isn’t even in right now. It wouldn’t do you any good to come inside.”
“But the sun cycle--and the little rain clouds--and the jigsaw puzzle--” one of the visitors in front of the gate protested.
“The lady of the house isn’t presently home?” someone else cut across, more politely.
“Nah, she left town over a month ago,” said the flamingo. “Listen, you lot might be frustrated about this weather, but we’re near the middle of town, and we’ve been getting these ridiculous tiny isolated storms for ages.”
“You name it, we probably got it,” said the hotlips plant. “Golf ball rain, miniature lightning storms, perfume smog, sideways waterspouts, teleporting lizards, chocolate milk floods. That one incident with the cheese wheels. Reverse earthquakes? Yeah, got ‘em. If we’re playing weird weather bingo, well, we’ve got Blackout.”
“After a couple of limestone dust storms, the lady of the house couldn’t take it anymore and left. We’ve been guarding the house ever since.”
“Aww…” one of the townspeople murmured in disappointment. “I thought we’d get to talk to someone after finally getting a clue about this weird weather.”
“That would be nice,” the hotlips plant nodded, “But unfortunately, she’s just not at home right now.”How can you tell that the flamingo and the hotlips plant are lying about the whereabouts of the lady of the house? Did you all ever read the Encyclopedia Brown book series by Donald J. Sobol when you were little? Well, this is sort of like that. Clues to answer the question at the end are hidden within the prose of this post, though there may or may not also be some additional knowledge needed as well. For this particular puzzle, only one person is required to answer correctly to move forward.
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Post by RielCZ on Apr 25, 2020 19:31:27 GMT -5
"Hey Mr. Evi, you noticed that wind chime?"Oh, a child! He recognized her from picture day -- the only girl wearing a top hat. (There were a few in top hats, but she was the only girl.) She was polite and well behaved, though her guinea pig did jump out and scare his crewmate during the Picture Day shoot -- that photo of her could have turned out better. "It's moving, but I don't think there's any wind. And there's a piece missing from the railing below it. In fact, the more I look at this house, the more it looks a bit shabby, though still a nice house."He licked the tip of his finger and moved it through the air, a trick he'd learned from Rachel (though maybe she just liked his tongue). "Good eye, Miss Top Hat, that wind chime IS clearly blowing but there is no wind." He took a photo of her holding out her magic wand epically like she was about to cast her own illusion. Nice. Much nicer than her guinea pig chaos-fueled Picture Day shot. "So," started the photographer, "what sort of magic can you do, kid? Do anything like that?" He pointed his thumb back at the glamour illusion. "I used to dabble a bit in card tricks," he added proudly, "but I realized later I only liked the cards because of the cool deck designs on the other side." But then people from the house started talking. ((Sorry, the narrator!post went up whilst I was writing this!)) Evi talks to the top hat girl ( June Scarlet ) and asks about what magic tricks she can do.
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Post by PFA on Apr 25, 2020 23:55:27 GMT -5
((Thanks Rabbit ♠ for letting me borrow Rachel)) "Hey now, that spider lives here, too! She's not a bug, she's a feature!""Spiders are literally bugs!" Princess Sunshine shouted back. "Actually, they're not," Rachel told her. "They're arachnids." "Well, uh..." Princess Sunshine coughed to mask her awkwardness. "... Close enough! And no, I don't have a spare bulb! I just thought you should know!" Finally, once the townsfolk had pointed out several discrepancies, the illusion broke down, revealing the house in a terrible state of disrepair. Princess Sunshine took special notice of the crow in the tree, that flew away once the illusion was gone. So the crow actually was there! Maybe Illumination Ray worked, after all. It wasn't that surprising at this point that the house was guarded by a talking plant and plastic flamingo. What they were saying, however, didn't sit quite right with her. If the house was empty, then why were they working so hard to protect it? They were definitely hiding something! "And how do we know you're not lying?" Princess Sunshine questioned. Turning to the quiet girl with the long hair, she asked, "After all, didn't you say that you saw someone in the window?" Bit of a catchup post! Princess Sunshine suspects that the house's protectors ( Lizica, Pixie) are lying, remembering that Gibi ( Twillie) mentioned seeing what may have been a person in the window.
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Post by June Scarlet on Apr 26, 2020 12:26:11 GMT -5
"Oh, I'm Jess, by the way," said the top hatted girl. "As for what sort of magic I do... uh... mostly small tricks right now. I can push a quarter through my hand! Though my best trick is pulling a Guinea Pig out of a hat. In fact..." Just as Jess was about to show off a magic trick, the house voices spoke. A plastic flamingo, and a plant. How cool. How weird. How awesome! They were not happy garden objects, though. Apparently the glamour was there for security, and the group had ruined it. And the person of the house wasn't even there! But then Norma- no, Princess Sunshine was her stage name, that was right, Jess needed to come up with a stage name at some point. Anyway, she pointed out that they could be lying, because there might have been someone in the window. Jess thought about that carefully... Jess replies to Evi RielCZ, and gets ready to do a magic trick, when the house voices speak again! It's a pair of not-so-inanimate objects! Princess Sunshine PFA points out that they might be lying. Jess considers this. (lead-up to collab post.)
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Post by Liou on Apr 26, 2020 13:08:23 GMT -5
Rose's pigtails seemed to droop. "I'm not yelling," they yelled, a little less ear-splittingly. They were content to eye the flamingo suspiciously, but all of the townsfolk nearby continued to comment on things about the house, and Rose's head snapped to look at each thing they mentioned in turn. "Oooh, you're right, that is a lizard up there! Hey, what a fine spider! Oh my, gems?" Their head swayed from side to side as they gazed at the wind chime Princess Sunshine had pointed out. Still pressed up against the fence, they gawked as the glamour crumbled and the gate guardians were revealed. "You're the lawn guardians? Hello! Quite a fine glamour you had put up!" Rose grinned back at the plant. "Oh, but don't let people yell at you for fifteen minutes straight! If you stay quiet at first but then make a very loud noise that gives people a big scare, that'll put them off quickly. Even if they're stronger than you, startling is always good against humans and other things." It turned out that there was no one home to be driven out of the house, and the group was left to mill about dejectedly in front of the fence. Aggie's cat, Purr-erh, still seemed offended by Rose's very presence. Finally noticing the cat's glares, Rose waved at her and at her owner. "Hello dear friend! Hello Agatha! You're well-guarded, I see. So nice of you to bring tea and help. If only they could let us in. Oh, let me know if you need anything for your garden! All those poor plants." They turned back to the house, shaking their head. "Really, it's a miracle any of these plants survived," Rose told the flamingo and the speaking plant. "And your hydrangeas are looking grand, considering!" Jess nodded along with Rose. "Yeah, they're very blue. We were learning about hydrangeas the other day in school, I think that means your soil is acidic. Otherwise, they'd be pink." Rose joined in the nodding enthusiastically. "That's right! Blue if acidic, pink if alkaline! That's a really good thing to remember for gardening, Jess! Did you learn more?" "Yeah!" said Jess, "We learned that you can either take what comes naturally, or you can add stuff to change the colors. For example, limestone makes the flowers pinker." "Yeah!" Rose nodded even more vigorously, pigtails bouncing. "And when gardening you have to be careful about how much you add into the soil!" They turned back to the flamingo and plant non-dynamic duo. "I don't know how you two managed to clean up all the limestone dust that must have rained these weeks, but wow, you certainly did a great job! Just look at these pretty blue puffs." "That's right!" said Jess. "You did say something about limestone dust..." Jess paused. Something didn't add up here. "What's wrong?" Rose asked softly. She looked down at Taffy in her satchel, who squeaked encouragingly. "Can...? Can you actually clean up the limestone? Or is Princess Sunshine right, and you're lying?" Rose's face fell and they gave the flamingo a mournful look of utter betrayal. Rose is surprised by all the things and pleased to converse with the guardians ( Lizica Pixie ), not quite getting the whole "leave us alone" thing. They greet Celestial and cat. Conversation on gardening ensues with June Scarlet dropping revelations on soil acidity and flower pigmentation! Rose confirms and comments on the lucky plants in this house's garden. Then Jess asks the guardians a critical question...
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Post by Huntress on Apr 26, 2020 15:06:57 GMT -5
"Not a fan of weird illusion houses?"Jeff, whose attention had been diverted by the weirdly woobly-looking house and the quiet commentary the Meepits were trading back and forth about it, very nearly jumped. Then he realized that he was being addressed by a pretty dark-haired girl, and relaxed gratefully. When you're in town to visit your nan like a normal human being and suddenly, somehow, find yourself standing outside argumentative real estate with a duffel bag full of Meepits, the opportunity to chat with a pretty girl is a marked improvement of the situation. "Well, it does have a lot of atmosphere," he said diplomatically. "I'm just... not from around here, and so I figured that I'd watch and see how it all plays out. I'm Jeff," he added with a smile. The Meepits eyed Cassidy politely and gave her an uneven slew of amiable salutes from the bag. "Uh, they're not mine," Jeff added after a thought. "They're just tagging along." At that point, an owl landed on his shoulder. Jeff sucked in a breath and froze in place, his expression now turning slightly pained. Burgers and beer. Burgers and beeeeer.... "And this one isn't either," he said desperately, as the owl began to take close interest in the Meepits, who craned their necks upward and started narrowing their beady eyes. "Yeah, just you try us, bud," Bloody Mary said. "We do bite." The plastic flamingo and the garden plant began to argue with the townspeople at that point. Jeff would probably have sighed, if his healthy sense of self-preservation hadn't reminded him of his face's proximity to a big ol' owl with all its assorted pointy bits. Better to stay still. Jeff would be quite happy to chat with Cassidy ( Kat ) and retain some sense of normalcy, except he's holding a bag full of Meepits, an owl ( Celestial ) lands on his shoulder and things are getting testy with the local real estate. Dude just wants a beer at this point.
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Post by Fraze on Apr 26, 2020 15:25:30 GMT -5
Before Anton could enthusiastically take up Aggie's offer of cake, he nearly got brained by his own puzzle piece... and barely kept himself from swearing. His grandmother, mother, and brother were all compelled to count grains of rice if someone threw a handful in front of them. It was a nice traditional compulsion, almost like a family tradition. But Anton? He couldn't leave a jigsaw puzzle unfinished. Ever. Once he had walked into a toy store with a puzzle display and couldn't leave for two weeks. Fortunately it looked like this one was coming down in pieces around town, so he followed Aggie in hopes of finding more. Once that was all wrapped up he really should have just gone home. And yet what kind of awesome, sexy, brooding creature of the night would he be if he passed up something like this? When the group arrived at the house, he recognized it as one he'd passed by many times before. It looked like it had good rafters, but he'd never been invited in. Once the glamour finally fell, the decayed gothic aesthetic was awesome. But now it looked like they had to argue their way in somehow (and it wasn't just him who needed to get invited, hah!). Anton figured that bargaining with a potted plant and a lawn ornament was better left up to other people. He opened his messenger bag - technically it belonged to the company and he used it for deliveries, but it was bigger on the inside. Reaching in all the way to his shoulder, he pulled out his prize - a cold can of beer. Waiting under the shade of the golf- and eyeball tree, he opened it and took a long swig. Anton catches up with the action while not contributing much. He's drinking beer under a tree.
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Post by Lizica on Apr 26, 2020 17:51:16 GMT -5
"And how do we know you're not lying?" the girl in the weird costume questioned. Then she turned to someone else and asked, "After all, didn't you say that you saw someone in the window?"
“Excuse me? EXCUSE ME?!” cried the flamingo. “Are you calling us liars? HOW DARE YOU. I’ll have you know that, sans legs, I am made of 100% top grade polyethylene plastic, and I have INTEGRITY.” Here, he raised one of his metal stake legs and pounded his chest for emphasis. It made a very dull and unimpressive Bunk! sound.
“You said someone was in the window?” the plant repeated, sounding confused, and twisted her stem to look. The black blob of a paw returned to the second story window, pulling and scrabbling at the curtain--before the whole curtain rod came down with a muffled crash and a muffled yowl.
“Oh, for--” muttered the flamingo, before raising his voice back towards the house. “I swear, Mr. Snuggles, if you break ONE MORE WINDOW--”
“That’s a cat. You were looking at one very annoying, yet admittedly still lovable, cat. That’s not the lady of the house, just her cat,” the hotlips plant said sagely, after barely suppressing a chuckle, turning back to the visitors outside the gate.
"Really, it's a miracle any of these plants survived," said the person who had first started up the yelling, though now at a somewhat more reasonable sound level.
“We did our best!” said both the hotlips plant and the flamingo at once, sounding thankful that someone had noticed.
The initial yeller and the young magician complimented the hydrangeas in particular, and then the two went back and forth, going down an educational tangent that suddenly escalated into--
"Can...? Can you actually clean up the limestone? Or is Princess Sunshine right, and you're lying?"
“Of--of course you can clean up limestone!” said the flamingo, looking quite caught off-guard. “You just use a good dustpan, and--”
The initial yeller gave the flamingo the most piteous, round-eyed look of betrayal.
“--And okay, there weren’t actually any limestone dust storms!” he admitted, deflating. “But we really did get all those other crazy things. The sideways waterspouts were particularly nasty, kept hitting me in the face at every angle…”
“Okay, fine, you called our bluff,” the hotlips plant conceded, raising two leaves in defeat. She bowed her head sympathetically at the sad-looking human.
“We may’ve lied about where the lady of the house is, but I still doubt it will do you much good to go see her,” the flamingo pointed out. He paused and glanced thoughtfully at the hotlips plant before turning back. “...But fine, how about this: If you lot are still so desperate to go talk to her, why don’t you help a plant and a plastic flamingo out, huh? No freebies. There were three things the lady of the house wanted us to bring her from the yard. But with all the weather, it’s slipped our minds a bit.”
The hotlips plant sputtered “Ffffff--,” and looked at the flamingo, her red leaves pressing into a frown. “You of all people would let strangers in?”
The flamingo tilted his neck in a shrug. “I’m only letting them in if they prove themselves to be actually helpful instead of just imposing or dangerous. Besides, it’ll be much easier for them to fetch the things for us. Neither of us has hands.”
The plant grinned. “Ah! Yes, get these folks with opposable thumbs to help with the delivery. That would be much quicker. Do you remember any of the things we were supposed to get?”
“There was some kind of magic focus, I think?” the flamingo confirmed.
“Hm, that sounds right. The first thing she wanted was a magic instrument of a sort, yes.” The plant raised a leaf near her lips. “Maybe the one that rambling sprite suggested during the cheese wheel incident?”
“No. Maybe that was the second thing? I zoned out after a while. That fairy talked a whole lot about nothing. She was pretty stuck up, even by poet standards.”
The plant gasped. “What? You’re calling poets full of themselves? Some of my close friends are poets.”
“Sure, and I’m sure every single one of your friends is a perfectly modest individual, just chock full of words and words and words.”
“Stop poking fun or I’ll poke you with a spoon--”
“Oh, would you? How would you hold it up? Or reach my head? Or, third of all, do you even have one?”
“I had one earlier. One of the storm clouds dropped a big wooden one, right into my pot, but we could use another.”
“Preferably not falling from the sky this time.” Find the three things the Lady of the House wants in order to proceed. Disclaimer: We, Pixica, do not condone the mockery of poets.
Good job calling those two out on their lie successfully! \ o / We’re so proud. *wipes tear* Some hints lay, once again, in the text; the gate guardians know more than they think they do.
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Post by Celestial on Apr 27, 2020 17:51:59 GMT -5
One minute, the illusion was there, and the next, poof, just like that, it was gone. Aggie gave a little "oh" as she realised what had happened. The surprise, however, did not last long. She was already looking in her basket for an appropriate gift for the owner of the house (perhaps some delightful rosehip and cherry tea, along with a few violet creams: this person did seem to like their flowers) when the group bumped into the flamingo and the plant. What an odd bunch, quite literally in the case of the plant Aggie pondered their statement: the lady of the house was not in. That did not feel right. Gibi had seen someone in the window. And- She turned to the conversation between Jess, Rose and the, er, objects that were supposed to be inanimate. They had a good point: where had the dust gone? The two were caught out in their lies. Aggie tutted. "Really, you two, you should have just been honest. Rose and Jess here did not need to catch you out like that for you to admit the truth," she scolded, putting her hands on her hips but gave Rose a grin. "A lovely job, dearie. Oh, and regarding my plants, they are doing fine, all things considered. How about yourself? You got any new lovely postcards?" Purr-eh had taken a moment out of her time glaring at Rose (they had dared wave at her, the nerve! Such dog-like behaviours) to jump down and examine the duo. A flamingo and a plant. She was almost wanting to knock them over but got the feeling that all tat would result in was a lot of uncouth shouting: not worth the satisfaction. But they were liars. Purr-eh contemplated the plant and the lawn ornament some more. Liars did deserve to be knocked over...she gave the flamingo an experimental tap with her paw. H-oolong, meanwhile, continued to watch the meepits. They seemed like they would be formidable prey, and were watching him too. Best remain in place. He quite liked this perch anyway. The man was tall, perfect for observation. He preened himself, occassionally turning his head backwards in order to keep an eye on the area. Well, he could not see the whole area. The unpleasant thing about the tall perch was that his head was in the way. H-oolong gave his ear a light nibble, politely but firmly asking him to move his head. Aggie, meanwhile, had turned back to the flamingo and plant. She was keen to come in with a gift. Normally tea and cake would be sufficient, but it seemed the lady had very particular taste. "Did the lady of the house say what she needed her things for? If she needs plants, I would be delighted to find them for her. Especially if it is spell ingredients. I often need the funniest things for my spells...well, I mostly require tea but you would be surprised what you can put into tea. If she needs spoons, perhaps for stirring, I have several lovely tea spoons in my basket. As for magic focuses...my suggestion is mistletoe, or holly. Hawthorn too, may be used. Though I am partial to a lovely teapot myself." The owl is still sitting on Jeff's( Huntress) shoulder, finding him to be a good perch. He continues eyeing the meetpits and the surrounding area. But freaking Jeff's head is in the way, urgh. Purr-eh is being a cat. She has gotten distracted from Rose( Liou) and is not wondering whether to knock the flamingo(@lizia) and hotlips plant( Pixie) over. Aggie contemplates what the group must acquire for the plants. She wonders if perhaps the lady of the house requires spell ingredients and suggests a few magic focuses. She is also happy to lend some of her own spoons, thinking one of the items they must find is a spoon.
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Post by Gelquie on Apr 27, 2020 19:11:52 GMT -5
Through the whole conversation, Era was caught staring--well and without dizziness, in fact!--in awe at the hotlips and plastic flamingo duo. Even if they were very annoyed with the group for barging in. For all their talk about the weird weather affecting them, Era was baffled at their lack of curiosity on the matter! The fact that it was months for them was interesting, however. Did no one else notice? This would make for an intriguing place of study! If only they could get permission from the lady of the house! But perhaps that'd be easier than expected; two of the other town residents had some knowledge of botany, and thus were able to call the two object-beings out in a lie. Wonderful! That opened up so many more opportunities! Era couldn't help but give them a proud smile at their clever deductions. They'd be great gardeners indeed! Era would never have put that together, although they usually plant simpler stuff. Their focus is on the skies, after all! After the lie was called out, the flamingo and plant told the group that they could only see the lady of the house if they all gathered three things. Of course, their memories on this matter weren't exactly... great. How inconvenient. There were weather mysteries to be solved, and they were so close to a lead! And they had to go shopping? Phoo. Still, Era jotted down the hints in their notebook for easy reference. "Aren't you or the lady of the house at all curious about how this is happening?" Era asked. "I mean, this is a great opportunity! If this has been going on for months so localized... Oh, you should've told me, or a meteorologist, this would make a great place of study! And I could've been months ahead on the research! ...We. We could've. But y'know! There's probably space here for weather instruments! Maybe if this place were cleaned up a bit." Era paused. "That is, just weather instruments. Not magic ones, so far as I know. I don't know if I can help there." And though Era hadn't thought of it, Aggie was in the process of asking if the objects related to plants. Era's first thought was to let them to it; there were some knowledgeable plant people here! Besides, Era could take another angle. "I don't know why you'd not want a spoon that drops from the sky. I mean, free spoons! All you have to do is wash it and you're set. Not that it looks like any are dropping now. I'd predict some spoon weather for you, but I can't actually do that. Yet. Maybe one day! Until then, we could buy a spoon?" Era looked around, thinking. They remembered when the wind chimes were being pointed out, how it seemed to sway unreliably. It was hard to tell from where they were looking, but they wondered... "Hey, that wind chime. Do you know what in the middle makes it ring? I can't tell from here." Era continues to talk A LOT, I'm so sorry. xDD Era is in awe at the illusion, while simultaneously glad it dropped because it's easier on their eyes! They give a smile to Rose and Jess ( Liou and June Scarlet) for seeing through the lie and helping them get closer to the truth! Speaking of, getting closer to studying weather stuff is all they care about. Era leaves the plant stuff to the plant people and instead barrage flamingo and hotlips ( Lizica and Pixie) with a ramble on how the place would be a great weather study location if they just got permission! And if they cleared the area a bit; there's gotta be room for these. They briefly ponder magical weather instruments, but they got nothing on that. They also briefly ponder why the heck they wouldn't want spoons that fall from the sky. Free spoons! C'mon! (The author's frequent use of spoons more than any other utensil may be biasing this post.) But more importantly, they ponder aloud what the spoon-shaped chimer on the wind chime could be, and ask about it because they can't see it very well from where they're standing.
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