The Hammock Witch

[Liou]

You've had a good haul so far, but you are beginning to wonder what's happened to all the houses this year, and what's got so many people residing in fields and woods and trees. Cottagecore, perhaps? That's been hip.

Speaking of houses, there is one! It looks very house-shaped, with solid walls, and a roof, and even windows, and all that sort of thing. It's not very well-decorated with torn drapes hanging haphazardly here and there, but it has colourful smoke puffing out from... somewhere, and various screams and groans echoing from... somewhere else, and that is Halloween-y enough to excuse your barging in and demanding treats.

The gate hangs open and the overgrown yard is littered with toppled deck chairs, lawn ornaments and paper cuttings, as though the decorator had given up halfway through.

Before you can knock on the door, reach the door or indeed locate any door at all, you find your path blocked by a hammock strung between two weeping willows. The hammock is not filled with cobwebs, but rather cobwebby in itself.

Within the hammock, what looks like a pile of rags stirs, and a head rises beneath a patched pointed hat. (You know, like a witch's hat.) The wearer of the hat stretches and yawns widely, fanning out the sleeves of their comfy sleeved blanket.

"Is it Halloween already?" the witch yawns. "Sorry, I've been living out here since all the rooms in my house are taken. I got nothing here, try somewhere else. Have fun."

The witch curls back up in the hammock and goes back to sleep.

Before you can make a move, she jolts up again and catches hold of your sleeve, or upper appendage. "Wait! You're collecting stuff! That's great! Sure I have things for you!"

The witch trots out of her hammock and uses her foot to push bulging cardboard boxes up to you. They are overflowing with trinkets.

"This is all my exes' stuff. I just can't get them to move out of their rooms. At first, I would just move to a different room of the house every time I broke up, but they piled up over time and I ended up running out of room, and now all my exes are just living in there. They won't miss any of this junk, at all. You should take some."

The witch glanced back at the house.

"While you're at it, won't you try going in and kicking them out? You can totally collect more cool things inside."

> Take a thing from the witch's exes' stuff. Hang out with the hammock witch.

and/or

> Go into the house. Pick a room, or wander at random.
- Kitchen
- Cellar
- Dining room
- Bathroom
- Bedroom
- Upper bathroom

((some routes may be shorter than others, if you have a preferrence for length, let me know and I will help you pick a route))

[Lizica]

A trick-or-treater approaches the house dressed as...a muddy zombie Sherlock Holmes, maybe? Lizica must have tripped, because she looks like she must have fallen hard at some point.

She approaches the house cautiously, examining the lawn ornaments and admiring the willows before meeting the witch.

"Sorry about your exes," she says. "That sounds horrible, like one of the worst kinds of sitcoms to be stuck with." Glancing into the cardboard box, she adds, "Uhh, thank you very much," before tentatively reaching in and emerging with what looks like a sweaty old t-shirt or something? Lizica politely adds it to her trick-or-treat bag.

"I guess I could go check out your kitchen inside," she tells the witch. "Do you want me to carry any messages to your ex or anything? I love your hammock, by the way!"

((I wasn't sure what sort of things you'd have in the box, so I picked something that seemed like something an ex might leave behind? Please let me know if that wasn't right, and I'll be glad to edit! ^^))

[downrightdude]

Dressed in a frilly pink dress, Cure Snaw agrees to enter the house and kick out all the unwanted guests. Perhaps one of those losers had Element Bottles in their possession; or anything shiny would do, too. Snaw kicks the kitchen door down.

"I, the most beautifully important healer in the worldly, demand the power to help heal and destroy the Earth!" Snaw proclaims, twirling the Healing Stick like a baton.

[Liou]

Lizica
You pick a raggedy grey piece of cloth and generously withdraw it from the pile of junk. Oops, the raggy t-shirt unfolds in your hands and out slips what looks like a rolled-up silk shawl.

On the silk is painted a landscape like none you have seen before, a sky full of colours that your eyes cannot place and vaporous formations unlike any phenomenon you've heard of, constellations not of this world, towers floating between buildings weaved into shimmering vegetation, flocks of wispy creatures drifting between treetops. You notice that the bright colours on the canvas are constantly shifting from scene to scene, and the brightest parts even seem to be made of shifting gold thread carefully embroidered into the painting. An artist's signature is traced in symbols from no alphabet you know of. Wow, what a piece of junk. Nobody will be missing that.

"Ugh, tell me about it!" The witch rolls her eyes. "Some of them just plain disappeared. I could go back in there to fetch, like, ingredients and my spare cauldron, but what if I run into one of them? We haven't spoken in like, years. Too awkward." She shudders theatrically. No message, then.

Inside the house, you cross a hallway with toppled coatracks and fallen curtains, and you make your way to the kitchen, across from the front door. The witch mumbled instructions on where to find the kitchen, but even if she hadn't, you likely would have noticed the bangs and bursts of smoke.

The stovetop is aflame. The oven is wide open and also aflame. You nearly step into flour as you walk in. The entire kitchen is lined with a broad circle of flour, most of it congealed into heaps and blobs. Inside, a short, thin red figure in a frilly apron is flitting among kitchen implements.

"Dinner will be ready in another hour, no takeout tonight!" says the demon chef without a glance your way.

[Lizica]

Lizica feels maybe a little bit out of her element here, and closely clings her trick-or-treat bag containing her new ethereal painting to protect it from any open flames or caustic plumes of smoke.

Snaw makes a couple grand, twirling demands to the figure in the kitchen, and Lizica tries to think of a way to try to breach the topic the witch outside requested.

"Uhhh...what's on the menu tonight, chef?" she asks tentatively. "Do you serve dinner to all the other tenants in the house?"

She wonders what would happen if one were to break the circle of flour, or maybe it'd be better to leave it alone. "Do you need any help cleaning up?"

[Liou]

Upon the entrance of downrightdude , the demon chef whirls round, shrieks and grabs a toaster, cowering behind it with a whimper.

"Oh no! Another of those fairies! Don't defeat me today!" They lower the toaster, listening to Cure Snaw's demand. "The power to heal and destroy the entire world? Oh, sure! I've got you covered."

The demon chef unplugs the house's Coffee Machine, rolls up the cord and casually tosses it over to you, along with a pack of coffee! It's a coffee machine just like all the others you've seen, you know, blackened metal, faint reflections of screaming faces appearing in that metal, flaming sigils, snapping teeth, lovely scent of cinnamon, et-cetera.

"Was that all?" The demon chef turns aside and snickers under their breath. "Foolish mortals. It makes only tea! Nyahaha."

The demon hops onto the flaming stovetop and sits cozily there, swinging their long cloven feet while listening to Lizica .

"There's a big stuffed pumpkin for dinner! And somebody will bring in greens and things, and there's ice cream in the freezer! I was just summoned for a few dinner dates, but she still hasn't eaten dessert, so I found something to keep busy in the meantime, you know?"

Somewhere in the house, a hole opens! It opens right into a lot of fog. If someone were to fall through that temporary hole, they would certainly find themself very damp. Through the fog, they might also spot a tall shower cabin with an occasional flash of lightning going through it. A sound of howling wind soon picks up around the new arrival, but it shift into a voice saying "whooo" and trying not to giggle.

(Gelquie )

[Gelquie]

The big-cat sized tuxedo cat barely had time to retrieve their riddle-obtained treats before they felt the humidity around them. They hastily wrapped the treats as well as they could and hid them in their mouth as they fell through the fog, finding themself thoroughly soaked. They fall to the floor and slide a little, but with alacrity, still manage to land on their feet, albeit not looking too pleased about it. They take in their surroundings, finding themself overwhelmed with the transition and what was going on.

Still, they manage to pull themself together long enough to unstrap the pack on their bag (fighting the wind) and deposit their candies within (except for a fishy-flavored one; that sounded good right about now). They restrap their bag and turn their focus to the situation, and their very wet fur, and how it stuck in places. (No wonder some cats didn't like getting wet. It's one thing when you're a semi-smooth-skinned being! The wind barely helped considering how much moisture was in here.)

"SORRY, EXCUSE ME, I-" the cat telepathically started before stopping themself. Woah, wait, was that what they sounded like now? They chewed on their treat some more.

"sorry, um-" Wait, that wasn't right either... eh, whatever, it was better than shouting. "sorry for dropping in, i... literally did that. by magic. i'm not looking, i promise. nice lightning and wind powers, though, are you a witch? you seem to be creating your own storm, which is very cool. and the fact that you have enough humidity for that suggests that you've been in here a long while. are you okay? ...wait, i'm the one intruding. um. sorry again. i don't have opposable thumbs right now so i can't leave easily."

[downrightdude]

"ICE CREAM! I want ice cream and I'll scream for it if I have to!"

Cure Snaw throws the coffee machine at the chef demon. No Element Bottles meant no world healing or destruction. But the smell of the coffee relaxes Snaw, so at least the demon chef wasn't completely useless.

[Liou]

Gelquie
There is still too much steam in the air to see if anyone is nearby. Near the shower, you spot a towel rack. The lights are off, but daylight is coming in through a closed window.

Some of the steam clears up and you see a very very fogged-up mirror ahead of you. You hear a squeaky sort of noise, and marks begin to appear, traced in the condensation on the mirror! Many many marks very fast.

"Hello there," the mirror scribblings read among little hearts, "how are you, I've never seen you before, pretty fur, are you here for a bath, have you eaten yet, do you need help, what was your schedule for today, are you hydrated, let's get you settled here-"



downrightdude
The demon chef receives a coffee machine to the fact and topples off the stove with a squeak. They get up, their head somehow stuck through the coffee machine, and spit out a clump of coffee grounds.

"Well you are screaming! I told you it was in the freezer!"

The chef pulls a tub of ice cream out of the freezer and tosses it your way. They turn aside to snicker under their breath. "Silly humans... it is actually spice cream... nya ha ha!"

[downrightdude]

Thanks to the power of healing, Cure Snaw could hear the demon chef's snickering. Unfazed, Snaw sets the spice cream on fire and throws it at the oven.

After an explosion erupts, a small red bottle emerges from the flames. "It's the Flame Element! What a coincidence!" Snaw exclaims. With this new Element Bottle, the world will be healed and burn down!

[Gelquie]

The cat turns their attention to the mirror, being one of the few things they can see. For a moment, they can only stare, although they come to their senses when they remember that their senses are barraged by the intense humidity.

"Oh, I uh... No schedule, just taking it as it comes... _{however it comes.} Um, thanks for the offer, but I don't really know why I'm here, and I just got some candy. Um, thank you though. Uh, I guess I could use some water? Or I may need help, um. Where am I? ...Besides a bathroom, I know I'm in a bathroom."

[Lizica]

Lizica stands amidst the kitchen while dinner is discussed, Cure Snaw and the demon chef toss various objects back and forth, and several things explode in flames.

"I think I'll just wait for the stuffed pumpkin," says Lizica, making a mental note to make all of her future Halloween costumes flame retardant. "Uhhhh, about the witch, though--that's a real shame, but it's cool you've kept occupied! Maybe I could bring some dessert out to her, or let her know to come inside when dessert is ready?" She remembers that the ice cream was just set aflame. "...If possible?" she adds.

[Liou]

After the downrightdude -induced explosion, the demon chef's long tongue flicks out to catch residual sparks and eat them out of the air like flies. They watch Cure Snaw pick up the bottle of healing world-burning with a shrug. This might as well happen.

"This is why I have to learn to be a chef," says the demon chef, shaking their head. "You'll have me and all my colleagues out of a job in no time."



They turn to Lizica . "Oh, has she finally remembered now? No, she's only sending you in to make me clear off, isn't she."

The demon chef pulls out a piece of cake. (By now, you're fairly sure they pull everything out of thin air.) It looks exquisite and fresh, rather too good to be true.

"It'll have gone stale after all these years. But if she finally wants to conclude dinner and seal the deal, sure, go on and serve dessert! Don't forget to bring the tab, too - it'll be time for her payment." The demon laughs with a sound like much too hot oil sizzling right out of a pan and into your face.

"Forget it, at this point I don't even want to drag her through the portal. Look, anyone can eat that cake to conclude dinner. You'll just need to sweep up the circle when I go and remind the household to eat something."

The demon chef offers you a plate of Devil's Food cake that is almost guaranteed not to steal your soul. It had little hearts and stars hopefully iced onto it.
You are also given Oven Mitts. They allow your fingers to move as dexterously as when you are not wearing any gloves. That's at least part of your costume now flame resistant?



The water tap is helpfully opened for Gelquie ! Floss and toothpaste and a new toothbrush fly out of a cupboard, right towards your face. There might be a figure somewhere, but the steam just won't move out of your sight. The squeaky scribbling on the foggy mirror continues.

"This was the witch's bathroom with the bestest bathroom assistant (me) except she stopped coming and tried to banish me but I locked the door so it was no one's bathroom but now it is your bathroom. Tell me everything you need to remember and I will give you reminders every day!"

[downrightdude]

Cure Snaw can care less about the Demon Chef. Placing the Fire Element Bottle into the Healing Stack, Snaw unleashes a beam of fire towards the refrigerator.

"Wow! Now I can burn things down with the fires of healing," marvels Snaw. "Oooh, time to scorch that demon!"

[Gelquie]

Oct 31, 2020 19:10:23 GMT -5 Liou said:

The water tap is helpfully opened for Gelquie ! Floss and toothpaste and a new toothbrush fly out of a cupboard, right towards your face. There might be a figure somewhere, but the steam just won't move out of your sight. The squeaky scribbling on the foggy mirror continues.

"This was the witch's bathroom with the bestest bathroom assistant (me) except she stopped coming and tried to banish me but I locked the door so it was no one's bathroom but now it is your bathroom. Tell me everything you need to remember and I will give you reminders every day!"

The cat blinks, momentarily overwhelmed by all the sudden offered help. "I, uh, I... okay, Um. Well. Thank you. Um." The cat moves forward and drinks from the flowing water, taking a moment to just pull themself together.

"Thank you. That's mainly what I need for now. So, wait, you locked the bathroom? You seem like a very helpful... being, I don't know what kind. Why would she try to banish you? Did something happen?" The cat pauses. "...If you'll accept my help instead, do you... want to talk about it? Maybe I can help, or I can at least listen."