test drive meme # 4

[acatamods]

I ▫ main IV ▫ premise       XI ▫ applications XIV ▫ activity II ▫ logs V ▫ rules VII ▫ bestiary   IX ▫ canon updates XII ▫ taken XV ▫ drop/hiatus III ▫ ooc VI ▫ faq VIII ▫ setting   X ▫ mods XIII ▫ reserves XVI ▫ players test drive meme #4 It happens in the blink of an eye. One moment, you are home. Perhaps you are with your family, perhaps you are at work. It's a completely normal day . . . and then, suddenly, your stomach drops. You are overcome with a sudden sense of vertigo. You cannot see up, or down, or where you are. All you hear is a voice -- light, bubbly, warm, soothing, in your ear: Don't worry, darling. This won't hurt a bit~ ♥ For those who recognize the voice, it will sound a bit strained. Possibly tired. But the moment happens so quickly it's hard to pin down, and once that moment is over, you fall flat on your face. It's bright, warm, and humid. It takes a few seconds for you to gain composure and catch your breath. You think, for half a moment, that a hand is on your back, rubbing between your shoulder blades in comfort, but when you open your eyes, no one is there. You are surrounded by ancient stone buildings, with carvings you do not recognize etched into the stone. There's a sense of nausea, overwhelming and sudden, when you realize you aren't in Kansas anymore. Even worse, it looks like Astoria has started to feel a bit festive, maybe even a little spooky. THE TEMPLE OF BEGINNINGS. Welcome to the "Home Base" of Astoria's Circle. What the actual name of the base is called is lost to the ages, and there's no sense of where you could find it, unless you started asking around. At any rate, this is a central hub of the Circle, a place of powerful magic and mysterious energy. It is a scattering of ancient stone buildings and for the most part, it looks abandoned . . . except for what seems to be a few items, some rooms taken, items moved or organized, even a small garden planted. These are just the smallest hints that there are people here that have been here before you arrived. Overall, it's fairly beautiful. However, it is definitely not modern. Upon exploration, you find that the buildings are kept up by some kind of magic. Some of the rooms have items, things from other Circle members already settled, and others appear to be unclaimed. Pick your rooms, explore the grounds, see the beauty and wonder all around you in such a magical place. However, be careful -- there is some additional movement around the Temple that seems specific to the time of year. THE GREAT PUMPKIN. Fall has certainly arrived in the Circle . . . rich colors adorn the leaves, a crisp breeze is in the air . . . and in the center of the Temple itself appears to be a massive pumpkin. And, really, the word massive doesn't appear to do the gourd justice. It is nearly twelve feet tall and twelve feet wide, round and bulbous in nature. But what is even more bizarre is that the entire structure seems hollow . . . and the front of it, in a Jack-O'-Lantern facade, has a large grinning face. No one says you have to go inside it, but if you're so inclined to scale through the mouth of the massive Jack-O'-Lantern, you will find a couple of things inside! One, the thing seems to be full of bowls of candy. Some candy might look familiar, but most of it looks a little weird. Two, there are floating candles spread throughout the pumpkin, creating odd shadows that cast about as the sun goes down. Three, the pumpkin changes expressions throughout the day. When you aren't looking, it goes from grimacing to smiling -- and it never seems to happen when you look! Have fun celebrating the holiday, Circle. Astoria is just getting started. SPOOKY SCARY SKELETONS. If the pumpkin wasn't quite enough of a giveaway that Astoria has become spookily inspired to welcome her new guests, then this will have to do. Because right along the outside of the Temple of Beginnings, there seems to be a somewhat constant and fairly thick fog. It's the kind of fog that makes you think there's something there. And with some exploration, you'll find...there is. Right in the distance there is movement, unnatural and sporadic. Any further investigation into the movement will involve you moving further and further into the fog. But be careful, because this fog is thick enough to lose sight of where you've come from. With enough time, you can catch up with the movement, to find that what you've heard and seen just beyond your peripheral, are...skeletons. Animated skeletons. They're humanoid, almost cartoon, and are moving with little to no direction. They just seem to be shambling in whatever direction they can, with no purpose or reason. They are entirely harmless. Except that if you get too curious, and get close enough to touch them, their heads will jerk towards you. They won't do much more, until you try and step away. It seems that by touching the skeletons, you've attracted their attention, and as you try to move away from them they will follow. And as they follow, they will attract the attention of other skeletons, and others, and others. If you're not careful, you'll collect an army. They will not follow you across the boundary around the Temple of Beginnings, but everywhere else you wander, you will have an entourage. Depending on how long you spend with your skeletons friends, you might even find out that they will answer simple commands. Like dance. FALL FEAST. No matter how Astoria's thoughts on holiday cheer, she seems to have at least gotten one fall related item down- because on one of the days, you will wake up and find that in the middle of the Temple of Beginnings, where there is usually some green space and open grass, is now a very large table, extravagantly decorated. It seems to go on forever in each direction, which feels...a little impossible (but what isn't impossible here?) with plenty of chairs. The table has been decorated with fall ornaments (anyone familiar with the American 'Thanksgiving' will find quite a few similarities) with the only difference instead being the wide variety of food available. Astoria is not limited to Turkey and Stuffing on this day - but rather, almost any kind of food or drink (minus any kind of magical abilities it may contain) is here on this table. Food and snacks from every reach of every world and galaxy is on display. Maybe you're going to spend some time searching out your favorite from home, or maybe you're feeling adventurous and want to try a piece of whatever is in front of you - you think it might be some kind of potatoes? If potatoes were slightly bioluminescent? Also, did that side dish move just now? COMMUNICATIONS. Upon arriving, you will notice on whichever is your non-dominant hand, you will have a fairly simply screen. A smart watch, if you will. Upon exploration, you will find that it has a directory of all those here with you at the Temple of Beginnings- names, and access to a direct message to them. The watch also has video, audio, and text capabilities, as well as what looks like a collection of messages sent to everyone who wishes to open them. This is your 'network', and also how Astoria can reach out and communicate with you. There is nothing keeping you from removing and/or losing your watch! But remember that you will not have access to this network without it. OOC: Also feel free to join us and other possible players on our discord server! enjoy! ♥

Comments

hitoka yachi | haikyuu!!

[cmyk]

i.
[ aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--

It takes everything for Yachi not to start crying when she first opens her eyes and the gymnasium is gone and she finds herself outside in a place she's never seen before. She hasn't moved an inch from where she'd started, clutching her backpack to her chest as if she could teleport right back home if she stands here and wishes hard enough, but it's not happening.

Eventually, what gets her to move is the sight of one of the misty servants— she screams and bolts the other way, whether that's straight into you, or face first into a wall. ]

ii.
[ WHY WOULD YOU GO INSIDE ANYTHING'S MOUTH.........

Even though she knows it's just a pumpkin, it's massive and scowling down at her and she can just imagine the jagged teeth slamming down and trapping everybody inside. There's candy inside, yes, but isn't that suspicious? That's so suspicious!! ]

D-d-don't go inside...!!

[ You, who thinks pumpkin climbing is a good idea, please reconsider?! ]

iii.
[ Inside the temple is scary enough, but going outside was an incredibly bad idea and Yachi regrets it almost immediately. Except, when she turns back, the fog is too thick and she loses her way, lost in the chill white and having to clasp both hands over her mouth so she doesn't shriek every time some movement catches her sight.

There's something out there, but she can't tell if it's a person or a monster or what, and she really doesn't want to take her chances in finding out which it is. More likely is a monster, and her means of defending herself is very limited. In her backpack there's a ruler stick, and that's what she takes out gripped tightly in both hands as she inches along blind and steeling herself to take a swing at the first thing that comes her way.

It's a toss-up as to which will snap first, that ruler or her nerves. ]

iv.
[ Haha! This isn't a great time! She had some snacks in her backpack that sustained her for a bit, but her hunger comes back full blast when she passes by the feast laid out outside. There's so much food and it smells so good and she's so hungry...

How it is now, her two options are to die of hunger or to die of poison, but the latter might be a swifter death, so maybe... she can pick up a plate... and eat something...

A chicken(? is this chicken though) leg looks nice and innocent and is the closest thing to her, so she reaches for it and—- the leg jerks as if alive and Yachi screams bloody murder and drops the plate with it shattering on the ground. Every thread is probably going to be like this, since she's just. like this. ]

v.
SOS
MAYDAY
119
HELP

wc.
[ Yachi can be found almost anywhere freaking out over the smallest thing, but she'll calm down once she finds somebody reliable to attach herself to and then she'll just be quietly anxious about everything instead. I'm at birdseed any time you need to poke me! I currently have Minato from Persona 3 in the game, and am thinking of bringing Yachi in this round :3c ]

iii

[moonlightbeast]

[What's out there, you ask? Oh, it's just Atsushi, who is on edge and trying to find his way out of the fog too. He's being relatively quiet, as he doesn't want to draw attention to himself, but that doesn't protect him from being seen.

Which means he is absolutely getting a ruler to the face. And then screaming afterwards, because holy shit what the hell just hit him???]

pyrrha nikos | rwby | ota

[incinerators]

THE GREAT PUMPKIN.

[ fall is a beautiful season.

pyrrha hasn't had much time to admire it back on remnant because of her activities and work at beacon. here, however, she is surrounded by nature: the crispness and the warm colors of the autumn leaves. the cool air. and...apparently, a giant pumpkin, which isn't unwelcome at all, just a little unexpected.

but it adds to the holiday spirit, at least? and why is it frowning? that's a sad look to carve onto a jack-o'-lantern. pyrrha is standing in front of it, staring at it quixotically. but the crunching of leaves in the area indicates that someone's nearby. she turns her head to flash a warm grin at whoever approaches, and when she looks back at the jack-o'-lantern...

it's smiling???? ]

Did--did you see that?

SPOOKY SCARY SKELETONS.

[ ominous fog. surely nothing can go wrong here.

except pyrrha knows that things absolutely can, and while she can't deny that she is pretty curious about what lies beyond the temple's borders, she also knows that venturing out sounds like a bad, bad idea. if she sees anyone starting to wander out, she calls to them, careful not to stray too far from the temple. ]

I don't think that's a very good idea!

FALL FEAST.

[ astoria really went all out on the feast, and pyrrha is more than delighted to be eating a bowl of ramen. it tastes exactly like the ones back from home, and that bit of nostalgia is more than enough to make her appreciate the meal.

funnily enough, on the snack table, there's a cereal box labeled "pumpkin pete's". what's that doing there? and why does it have a picture of pyrrha on it? does she even know it's there? (spoilers: she doesn't.) ]

WILDCARD.

[ open to anything! ]

great pumpkin

[nodoze]

[ See it? Miyuki rubs the back of his head, not quite following. When he saw it for the first time, it was smiling. He hadn't noticed any kind of frown, so the question's a bit odd. ]

I did, yeah. It's... fairly hard to miss. [ It is massive. ]

kairi | kingdom hearts

[heartslight]

i;

[ Kairi has found the skeletons. They only spooked her a little when she did, but compared to most else she's experienced, they're not really that scary. Especially since they make it clear quite quickly that they're not going to hurt her. She spends some time trying to talk to them (fruitlessly, but it's fun to try anyway), allowing them to follow her, and then ...

Suddenly she's testing things. ]

Okay, now ... line up! [ They go ahead and shuffle into a line now. Which amuses her pretty greatly. ] Great! Now ... make a circle! [ Here they go, making a circle around her and just ... staring, waiting for another command, as she laughs softly.

Either this is going to look like a girl playing with a bunch of skeletons, or a girl being surrounded by a bunch of skeletons. What do you think?? ]

ii;

[ Kairi can't help but curiously scour the table for foods she might recognize — though somewhere along the way she becomes interested in anything she doesn't recognize as well. Some foods glow, some foods are different colors from the ones she knows. She's having a good time looking through everything when she notices something moving out of the corner of her eye and comes across a plate with a moving squid on it. As though it were alive (it's not).

This startles her at first, as she kneels down and peers over the table at it. ]

It's ... not alive, is it?

[ She's plenty used to seafood but this is a new one for her. ]

iii;

[ Kairi sits outside, in a central area, trying to think of how she should deal with ... everything that's happening. She's not where she last remembers being, and her friends aren't around — or at least she hasn't seen them yet. So she's going to have to deal with all of this on her own, which is a tall order but not something she'd back down to.

So she has the idea of emptying her pouch she's always wearing to see if she's got anything in it that might be of use. Not that she has any idea of what would be of use right now, but maybe she'll get some ideas by looking at whatever she's keeping in there. It's easy to forget what you've put in your pockets, after all (she's found plenty of munny in there before).

But when she empties it out on the ground in front of her, all it has in it is ... a few sea shells. She's always had a penchant for finding them and making things out of them, and it's a little homey to look at them — gives her some comfort.

Except when she hears someone coming up behind her, it snaps her out of that little trance she's in, and she quickly turns around to figure out the source of the footsteps — though in the process, her magic somehow activates, and one of those sea shells goes flying into the other's face, like it's moving with her line of sight from where it was sitting previously straight into the stranger behind her. Totally accidentally. She can telekinetically control them, it seems. ... Sorry, friend. ]

wildcard;

[ Feel free to come at me with something else!! ]

iii

[humerous]

[If there's one thing Sans is good at, at least it's dodging. He slips to the side and sidesteps the projected shell, looking over to Kairi to evaluate whether or not that was intentional.

The look on her face says it all, though.]

...sorry. Guess I startled you, huh?

sans | undertale | futurology crau

[humerous]

A: kind of still in kansas, actually

[It's one thing to be plucked from your home by some obscure, worldhopping, timeline controlling organisation for conscription. It's another to be plucked from there to...the same thing, maybe? He's a lot less sure of the details here, but he'll take a stab at it and assume that's what this is. Actually, it's all he really can do for the moment.

But he'd been in Oska and Oska adjacent worlds long enough to actually feel a little at home there, especially with a few people from the underground and a handful of new friends as well, which is what makes this unscheduled trip so unwelcome. Maybe it's just temporary and he'll be back before dinnertime. Maybe it's more permanent.

All he really knows is the lack of powers is immediately apparent...and for a monster, that's pretty bad. So he sets out right away in search of anyone else he could recognise, wandering all across the temple.]

Papyrus!...[Nope.] Undyne? [Nadda.] Ollie? MTT? Rin? Anyone out there?

B: pumpkin prompts prompt peppermint pilfering

[Once you enter the great gourd and spot Sans, It'd be easy to assume he's just part of the festivities considering how spooky everything is around here. But it's unlikely the skeletons you'll find outside would come in here and snatch some candy of their own accord, all things considered...plus his attire's a little too casual and clashes with the halloween atmosphere. Definitely not native, at least.

Once you enter, he pops some candy into his mouth and turns in your direction.]

S'up. [He tilts the bowl ever so slightly in your direction.] Blood sugar a little low too?

C: you know i had to do the skeleton prompt

[THIS IS A LOT WEIRDER FOR HIM THAN YOU MIGHT EXPECT. The truth is, he's never actually seen other animated skeletons aside from his brother, so the small group of them that won't leave him alone, yet won't talk or interact with him like actual people either, is..........unnerving. That's the only way to describe it.]

...so this whole, uh, silent treatment thing. [nothing.......]...right, I get it. Going tough on the new guy, huh? Like initiation? Do I pass if I keep talking? Or maybe I oughta shut up? Come on, a hint would be nice...you're leaving me out in the cold here, guys.

[He figured out they're likely not all that alive as he is a while back, but when he doesn't know what to do he just...talks. And talks. And keeps talking.]

...heh. Well. You aren't into conversation or jokes, so...what can I say?

[Or do. In this case, run like hell. Which is what he does.

And they follow close behind, running at MAXIMUM SKELETON SPEED.

Right towards you.

Better think fast, because Sans runs past you and the skeletons aren't going to slow down even if you're in the way.]

B

[a_sharp_wit]

My... oh!

[Well, somehow this was the last thing she expected inside of a massive pumpkin. The floating candles, the bowls of candy, the skeleton... it was all rather charming really, though it meant little all connected together for Elizabeth.

She steps over however, peering into the bowl a moment before she selects a candy. Sure, the bowl is being tipped by a talking skeleton but after androids and men who traversed space, she can't quite say such a thing as Sans is completely outside the realm of possibility.]

Forgive me, I did not know what to expect when I stepped in.

giorno giovanna | jjba

[digiorno]

i. pumpkin

[Calm. Giorno is calm. Giorno appears very calm, at least, as though there is nowhere he'd rather be than the middle of some unfamiliar cluster of buildings, surrounded by an unending forest. Nothing could possibly be frustrating or unnerving about this. He is calm as the surface of a lake on a perfectly still day.]

[Anyway, fuck this temple already, but until he finds a way out he's going to at least investigate. Starting with this pumpkin. All things considered, it's far from the weirdest thing he's ever seen, but it could easily be lethal, based on his experience. So he walks several circles around it, raps on it with his knuckles, examines its stem, and smells it before taking the step of climbing inside. And it's full of candy. He doesn't know what he expected.]

[After some thought, he stuffs his pockets full of candy and crawls back out, then strolls along perfectly casually until he runs across someone else. With a friendly smile and a selection of candy in his outstretched hand:] I found this, and I have far too much to keep to myself. Would you like some?

[Please Taste Test This Probably Poisoned Snack.]

ii. skeletons

[By this point, his inability to locate an enemy is wearing on him. There's got to be something here that wants something from him--if not to hurt him, then to get something out of him. So naturally he follows the movement in the fog, because he's reckless and irritated and would like to cut to the chase.]

[But it's skeletons. Cute skeletons. A whole crowd of them. Somehow, stupidly, they make him smile a little, because they're ridiculous and seemingly endless and just standing there.]

Why are you here?

[He puts a hand on his hip. The skeletons . . . put their hands on their hips. He blinks in surprise, tapping his chin; immediately, the skeletons do the same. He lifts his arm and waves; the skeletons follow suit, creating a sea of bony waving arms.]

[Ah. Okay. Giorno looks over his shoulder, then to the left, then to the right. And then, experimentally . . . he poses. The skeletons follow suit, and he grins, visibly delighted.]

iii. feast

. . . I hope the food doesn't always glow here.

[This isn't intended for anyone's ears in particular, but it's not like he's whispering, either. If anyone happens to overhear this prickly mixture of shade and confusion, he's fine with it. He has a lot of opinions and a lot of dubiousness.]

[But at the same time, he's genuinely hungry by this point. It would be fallacious to assume that just because something isn't glowing (or floating, or bouncing every once in a while) that it's safe to eat--in fact, extremely weird food is almost certainly a red herring--but if he finds food that he's familiar with and that looks as it ought to, it should be fine. Probably.]

[After thinking about this very seriously for a few moments, he leans over the endless spread. And . . . there. Right there. Is castagnaccio? It's so improbable, but he doesn't mind. Picking up the little chestnut cake, he breaks it in half, tucks half in his pocket (for later), and immediately eats the rest. Homf.]

[Now to address the next problem. Which:] Why . . . are there so many pies?

iv. wildcard

[Hit me with any other prompt/a combo/whatever! Or PM this journal to set up something specific!!]

iii

[foundafamily]

[Firo's been looking over the spread as well, so far too wary to go for anything just yet. Free--and safe, so far--food isn't new at the temple, but moving food is. It'd make so much sense if the safe stuff were to get them to lower their guard so that they'd all get poisoned.

So when he sees a stranger actually go for something, Firo watches curiously to see if he'll keel over. So far, so good!

Nodding towards the nearest pumpkin-pie-looking thing, he replies:]

I think it's an American thing, but I wouldn't've thought Astoria'd know about all that.

jason mendoza | the good place.

[molotovs]

» ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ.

[ Jason is sitting with his legs neatly crossed in what one might call his Jianyu pose - arguably mediatively, albeit a Hollywood version of it, with the feet over and not under. He's also sitting right next to a pumpkin with a little candle in it. His lips are pursed, his cheekbones are their most cheekbone-y, his eyes wide and full of paranoid concern.

He looks at the pumpkin through the corner of his eye. It grimaces.

He looks away. It smiles.

Quickly, he whips his head back. It grimaces.

Then, the whine of disappointment - ]

Aww, man! We'll never get our own TV show with you being like the frog who only sings when I'm not looking if you don't do the thing!

[ Eventually, he gets an idea... And then turns into a brick.

(The brick has a smartwatch laying on top of it. Don't steal it!) ]

» ɴᴇᴛᴡᴏʀᴋ.

[ In what is likely a bad development for everyone involved, Jason figures out his watch right away. ]

In honour of, uh, our stay in beautiful Halloweentown, I will now sing - for all of you - my sixth favourite Halloween song.

[ Two things:
1. Yes, Jason does now believe he's been transported to Halloweentown. Much like Jack Skellington (the Pumpkin King) found himself in Christmastown in Disney's hit film The Nightmare Before Christmas. No, you cannot convince him otherwise. (Probably.)
2. This isn't actually a Halloween song. Enjoy some off tune (off... rapped?) lyrics. ]

Here... here... here we go!
So they're finally here,
Performing for you.
If you know the words,
You can join in too.

Put your hands together,
If you want to clap,
As we take you through, this monkey rap!
Huh!
DK - Donkey Kong!!
He's the leader of the bunch.
You know him well.
He's finally back to kick some tail.
His Coconut Gun can fire in spurts.
If he shoots you, it's gonna hurt.
He's bigger, faster, and stronger too,
He's the first member of the DK crew!

Huh!
DK - Donkey Kong!
DK - Donkey Kong is here!

[ Although Jason doesn't really realise he isn't hitting the framed beats that the song originated, he also doesn't really care.

He begins to break dance. The song gets much rougher to listen to due to his carefully choreographed movements taking up a good deal of his attention. ]

This Kong's got style, so listen up dudes.
She can shrink in size, to suit her mood--

[ And this is the point where I, a simple RPer, got tired of capitalising the first letter of every sentence of my copypasta lyrics. In the words of Simon Pegg, let's skip to the end. ]

W-w-w-walnuts. Peanuts. Pineapple smells.
Grapes. Melons. Oranges and coconut shells!
Ahh yeah!
Walnuts, peanuts, pineapple smells,
Grapes, melons, oranges and coconut shells!
Awwww yeah!

» ᴡɪʟᴅᴄᴀʀᴅ.

( whatever your heart can dream of! )

the first one im crying

[intoningly]

[ Zero, from a ways away, watches this bizarre state of affairs with vague amusement. Honestly, whatever excitement the stupid face changing jack-o-lantern and dumb, intrusive skeletons had brought has worn off quick.

Boredom is dangerous around these parts, especially in a situation like this.

So, for no other reason except to quell her own boredom, Zero saunters over to where brick!Jason sits. Forget the watch, she picks up the whole brick. She pulls her arm back, one foot in the air as she prepares to chuck this baby as far as she physically can. ]

roxas | kingdom hearts

[pullsheavendown]

i. pumpkin

[It's possible, Roxas figures, that he should be taking this suddenly-flat-on-his-face-in-another-world thing with more surprise and confusion than he is. But then, he's done sudden visits to other worlds before—the most surprising thing is that he has a face to fall on.

He's certain he's never been in this one before—almost certain. Because as soon as the giant pumpkin comes into view, he takes a step back, his stance immediately shifting into one that's ready for a fight.

His face goes a little pale. Or is that green? Maybe both.]

Oh, no. Not another pumpkin bomb.

[And this one is enormous.]

ii. feast

[He doesn't see any ice cream. But this still looks pretty good.

It takes him a while to feel certain enough of himself to venture into the temple, because recon is an old habit but it mostly involves staying away from people. But he's not in the Organization anymore, and none of these people are giving him funny looks—mostly—and also his stomach is growling really loudly. So finally, he takes a seat and tries a few things. It's about as good as it looks.

...except food isn't supposed to move. Going on instinct, he lifts a heavy stein that someone left on the table and slams it onto the whatever-that-was, splashing himself and whoever's nearby with sauce.]

Uh, sorry. I think it's dead now...whatever it is.

iii. network.

[He takes even longer checking out the 'network' before he tries using it himself. It's nothing like anything Roxas has ever seen, and it's weird to think that so many people talk on it. To everyone. All at once.

But if this is what people do here, then he might as well give it a try.]

Have any of you ever been to other worlds?

[...that was dumb.]

Before ending up here, I mean. Because that'd be a dumb question, right? Since everyone has now.

...just curious.

iv. wild card

[What it says on the tin.]

ii!!!

[heartslight]

[ Kairi is looking right at it when he smashes it and causes the sauce to go everywhere. Which means she has that sauce going right on her face — luckily she reacts in time to close her eyes and prevent it from going in them, but it gets all over the top of her eyes, which means she isn't going to be opening them right away. ]

Ugh — [ rubbing her face to try to get the sauce off ... ] You could've warned me, you know.

[ She'll deal with the fact that he just straight up smashed it later. ... Though she doesn't quite know who she's talking to yet, thanks to her current blindness. ]

utena tenjou | rgu

[revolutionized]

i. it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown

[Utena blinks awake. There was a voice she had not recognized, and hands she did not know, and now there was nothing but the press of dirt against her cheek.

Her body doesn't hurt, though she knows it should. She sits up carefully, stares at her hands, the faint crisscrossing of scars that were not there before. There is no ring, but then, why would there be?

She no longer existed in that place.

For a moment her features fade into a dull weariness, an odd seriousness on such a young face. She observes her uniform jacket — and that's all it was now, just a jacket, no elegant epaulets, no ruined white rose gold-pinned to the chest. She expects tatters but there are none, and while she knows the wound to her side will scar (will it?) there is no damage there either.

There's still blood under her fingernails, but at least they aren't split and broken. Small mercies.

She stands up and stretches — bounces on her heels, rubs the back of her neck. She doesn't feel different, not physically. Maybe that's a mercy too.

This doesn't look like Ohtori, either. It's quiet but there are people around, must be — because there's noise and color in the distance.

And there's a huge pumpkin in front of her, which is, coincidentally, a lot like Ohtori in a bizarre sort of way. But details.]

Oi... [Headscratch.] What's this supposed to be?

[She starts to climb it, obviously.

Occasionally she skids — she is not dressed or prepared for this, and eventually she's half-dangling off the toothy rim of the pumpkin's grimacing face. She's grimacing too, unafraid of heights but not wanting to fall and snap her neck, not really.]

Hey —!

Um...

Is anyone up there? In there? Geez... I think I'm stuck!

[She's absolutely stuck.]

ii. raveyard

[Utena's picking through her candy spoils from the pumpkin with a detached, blank sort of disinterest. She had not thought that loss would leave her so vastly empty, so directionless, but here she was. Feeling nothing, going nowhere. Empty movement.

She wonders if the world has always been so oddly gray, or if this is just the fog.

Maybe that was why she'd spent so long looking at it the wrong way.

A bright orange leaf drifts lazily to fall into the bright pink sheet of her hair, and she doesn't notice.

What she does notice is movement out of the corner of her eye, and when the skeleton lurches toward her she does the first thing she can think of, which is 1) shriek and 2) punch it. Its head goes flying merrily off, it toddles off in another direction to find it, and she stares with a baffled sort of mixture of horror and mania as more skeletons emerge from the hazy fog.

They all stare at her blankly, with the vacant grins that all skulls have, and she does the third thing she can think of which is 3) run.

Utena, ever helpful, will grab the hand of whatever person is nearby on her wild skeleton chase and tug.]

We've gotta go! They're everywhere!

iii. where is the sorting hat

How...long does this table go on?

[Utena's hunched over, breathing a little labored. She'd started on one...end, at some point, and had sprinted and jogged and power-walked for at least a half hour, or maybe a million years, and she's only made it a third in.

She slumps on the nearest chair, sighs in a large and affected sort of way, and puts her head on the table like a dumb teenager with no table manners.

A second passes.

She looks up, squints over the cage of her arms at something.]

Say —

[She's talking to you, sorry.]

Across the table there, is that plate moving?

[She squints harder.]

What's with this weird food?

wildcard

[i'm super rusty with this kid but hmu with whatever your heart desires! she is post-canon for those In the Know.]

pumpkin

[intoningly]

[ Zero saunters over, peering through and over the pumpkin's carved mouth the way one might look over a balcony. There's a bowl of candy tucked under her arm, and Zero chews thoughtfully on what she's already got stuffed in her mouth before she addresses this poor stranger's call for help. ]

You think?

[ Zero snorts derisively, with an unamused raise of her brow. ]

I'll come back when you're sure, then.

[ She turns like she's really going to leave. ]

mae borowski | night in the woods

[witchdaggah]

pumpkin purrfect

[ a voice in her head isn't much new to comment on beyond she's surprised how easy to comprehend it is. the last one was more like eldritch babble she'll likely never decipher, but mae's okay with that. the new setting will take a little bit of adjustment, and that's a lot less okay. a giant pumpkin seems kind of familiar enough to hole up in, though. feeling like a kid in a bouncy house, she slips in through the jack o'lantern's mouth and plops down.

the nice thing about the atmosphere is how much mae loves it. it's basically harfest, and the idea of having a second harfest in one year is too good. better yet: the pumpkin yields candy!! so this is a great time to... do harfesty things. like scaring people. very spooky.

look, the opportunity arose. mae's taking it. the moment she hears someone walking by, she jumps into action, hiding against the back of the pumpkin's inside. ]

Halt, thee!!!

[ that's not how that works. there's a voice coming from the inside of the pumpkin's mouth, a deep voice (mae's just trying to sound tough) with a bit of a hiss, and there's... no one in sight...?! ]

Who approaches the Great Pumpkin? Speak, and I may spareth thee!

[ this is fine. it's fine. ]

michael jackson's "thriller"

[ so.

mae has gotten an army of skeletons following her like a school of baby ducks. ]

My family!

[ this is not her family. mae is a cat. who cares. ]

You think they'll dance if I do? They're following me, so...

[ she's thinking how cool it'd be. she can't help it. ]

mini game break

[ the feast is pretty cool. the party atmosphere is not, but that's cool. mae can like, ignore that. parties are for people without nightmare eyes, which she is not. mae thinks of pumpkin pierogies from her favorite little subway stand so hard that they appear. cool. that's fine. very spooky which is harfesty.

so the next thing she does is toss her pierogie in the air so she can catch it in her mouth. it goes well two times, but the third time...

smacks you in the face!!! ah jeez. mae looks in your direction, blinks, and then continues.

well. ]

millenials should be texting

Wow
This place has signal
That's new
I mean the whole thing is new but being in a place with signal is new too
Well college had signal
I just didn't use it much
This is public isn't it

wildcard

[ feel free to tag me with your own prompt! i'm also around on pms to hash something out if you'd like! ]

texting

[extirpator]

What's college?

makoto niijima / persona 5

[queensides]

around the temple.

[ Makoto has never been one to sit around when there's something that needs doing, and while exploring the temple is something that she doesn't necessarily need to do in the grand scheme of things, it's something she needs to do for now, if only to keep herself preoccupied. To keep herself from worrying. There's probably not an ideal time to be spirited away to another world like this, but this is a particularly bad time. This isn't just another cognition or even a palace; she can't call on Johanna at all. For the moment, all she can to is assume that what she's been told is true, and go from there.

Worrying at her bottom lip, she moves from room to room, pushing open doors with reckless abandon, and intruding (unintentionally) on someone's unoccupied bedroom. This room certainly looks inhabited, but with no one present to ward her off, she continues to snoop, stepping further into the room and opening drawers and closets, looking for...

Well, anything. Some kind of hint, some kind of clue, some kind of way out of here. When she isn't snooping around, she drops to the corner of the nearest bed and pulls out her phone, trying the Nav for the umpteenth time. As with her previous attempts, nothing happens. She doesn't even have service here, but that shouldn't matter for something like this. ]

Still nothing...of course.

the great pumpkin.

[ Well, she's already been taken against her will to a strange an unfamiliar world. Why not venture into an impossibly large and foreboding jack-o-lantern?

Sighing out her already-drawn patience, Makoto steps through the pumpkin's mouth and up to the bowls of candy. Nothing of nutritional value, of course, but she can enjoy a piece of candy from time to time, and if there was ever a time to indulge on sweets, then this would be it.

But no sooner has she picked up an uninspiring piece of "Mr. Adequate Bar" does a gust of wind blow suddenly through the jack-o-lantern's mouth, extinguishing the candles, and blanketing the interior of the pumpkin in darkness.

Makoto tenses up immediately, a high pitched sound slipping from her as she backs up against the nearest wall. ]

H-hello? Who's there? Show yourself!

[ She's not alone. ]

spooky scary skeletons.

[ After facing the darkness inside the giant pumpkin, a horde of skeletons is no problem at all. Far less sinister than most of the shadows they had fought in the Metaverse. In fact, they're a little charming! Makoto continues exploring the outskirts of the compound with a sizable parade of skeletons following her, as she employs them to complete simple tasks, like fetching her samples of the local flora and checking for any possible dangers in the trees. She could get used to the idea of having an army of minions...

As she comes across other circle members, in the forest or in the mist or otherwise, she will greet them politely with a nod of her head. Her contingent of skeletons follows suit. ]

Oh, hello there. If you're lost, we can help —

[ One of the skeletons behind her scratches at its ribs, causing one to fall out of place. Her brow pinching, Makoto turns back to chide: ]

Again? You know scratching it won't help! You should be more careful.

[ Gingerly, she bends to pick up the rib, returns it to the skeleton, and then turns back to the onlooker once again. ]

My apologies. As I was saying, we can help you find your way back to the temple.

[ :') ]

wildcard.

[ Choose your own prompt! I'm open to anything. If you want to plot, hit me up on Plurk at retroscape! ]

skeletons

[apocryphas]

[ It's time for another episode of Mordred Ruins Everything, but also our traditional way of starting CR...

...which is Mordred throwing a steel trash can at one of the skeletons. Where did she get it from? Let's just say she had a feeling that she was going to need it.

The skeleton falls to the ground, and Mordred emerges from the shadows, destroying even more of them with her sword and some kicks. She probably looks like a maniac (she might be), but in her defense, this is what her enemies looked like in the Greater Grail War. ]

Die, trash!!! I'll take on a whole army of you, hahah!!

[ Even the skeleton who Makoto just helped put a piece back together gets knocked down like a jenga tower. Why are they so weak? ]

Shouta Aizawa | My Hero Academia

[eraserdad]

i. pumpkin sigh

[Well, he's Here. Everything about the timing is incredibly inconvenient, and he's even less impressed with the expectation of just settling in after literally being kidnapped, but what the hell can you do, right. Until he has more information, he's stuck.

So he's investigating, and eventually he ends up at the giant pumpkin. Which is -- absurd enough on its face, and even moreso considering it's indoors. He gives it a particularly dead-eyed look and walks past the first time, but eventually he ends up having checked out the rest of the building and here the pumpkin is again, staring him in the face. With a different face than last time? Unless he's imagining that.

Ultimately, morbid curiosity takes enough hold that he finally wanders inside...only to be greeted with candy. It's official, he's been kidnapped by the female equivalent of a manchild. He's so unimpressed that he actually manages to scrounge up the spoons to verbalize his disdain:]

Why.

ii. a feast fit for ... uh, someone

[This sure is an endless table of food that appeared out of nowhere. Aizawa's generally inclined to be suspicious, of course, but presumably if their kidnapper wants people to work for her, she's not going to kill them. On the other hand, drugging the food with something to make them a bit more complacent, a bit more suggestible -- that's a distinct possibility. Especially given how some of the food looks distinctly abnormal, like that bowl of ramen with its faintly glowing noodles. If someone else happens by as he's scrutinizing said bowl, he'll turn and ask them:]

What do you make of this?

iii. network

[Yeah there's no polite introduction here, or really any preamble before a single question appears on the network.]

has anyone found their quirk missing?

i

[digiorno]

Why not?

[Giorno, who crawled in and has been sitting inside the pumpkin for a few minutes now, is sorting the candy into three piles: types he recognizes, types he thinks he could hazard a guess at the ingredients of, and the totally mysterious. He recognizes the rising urge to throw a piece at this new person, to see if he could wedge it in his hair, but also recognizes that urge for spite and puts it aside.]

[For now. Spite is a powerful force.]

You won't have much luck looking for any other reason. I'm fairly certain.

Miyuki Shirogane | Kaguya-sama Wants To Be Confessed To

[nodoze]

it's the test drive, charlie brown! (or: great pumpkin)

[ That is... the largest pumpkin this man has ever seen.

Miyuki's surprised that anything this large could even exist, just leading more credence to the whole "magic" thing. Though he was skeptical at first, it's starting to be more and more likely that this isn't just going to be a typical stay. Even more surprising... there's an entrance to the pumpkin itself. Well, if it's that massive, then the inside must be just as impressive.

When he steps in, he sighs a bit. So far so good, but then he turns around and... did the entrance to the pumpkin just change? From where he stood, the open mouth was curved up in a grin previously... now it's curved down?

Hey, friend who's next to him-- ]

I... I'm not imagining that, am I? It didn't look like that when I came in.

skeletons

[ Miyuki's trek through the fog was a... tad unnerving. He couldn't help but be curious as to what could possibly be moving out there, but on the other hand, he definitely wasn't up for this scary atmosphere. It was even worse when he got to the bodies he had been following. Surprise! Skeletons! Miyuki's first scream was shortlived and fairly muted as he recoiled on sight, but then got a good glimpse of them. They didn't seem like real skeletons, so maybe it was fine? Someone was just playing a nice prank on him. Sigh.

It was so childish. ]

Okay, that's enough of that. Whoever's out there, come pick up your-- [ And as soon as he tries to reach for one, their heads move and he immediately

decides

to shriek. Enjoy that sound. ]

network

[ Alright, he's had a question on his mind all day since he came here. He feels like he'll explode if he doesn't get it out there, so he decides to send out a text. ]

Hey, this is Miyuki Shirogane. I'm new here, and I have a question.

[ Alright. Time to ask... ]

This watch. Are we going to be forced to pay for it? Or are we meant to pay for it through hard work?

If so, let me know what needs to be done. I've never had anything like this, and I want to keep it.

[ It's seriously one of the coolest things he's ever had. As someone who spent so long without a smart phone, just getting a smart watch like this... seriously?! Too good to be true!]

wildcard

[ Hit me up with anything you have! Either here or on plurk @ perpendicular]

pumpkin

[humerous]

Well, sure, he was smiling a minute ago...but you'd probably frown too if someone walked inside of your mouth uninvited, right?

[It's only common sense.]

saber (artoria pendragon) | fate/

[everlasts]

grounds.
[ Saber spends much of her time traveling the grounds on her own to acclimate to her surroundings. from a distance, she seems a somber sort, if not overly curious. her posture always seems tight, regal almost, and she carries herself with the air of a warrior, always looking for unseen dangers. her first several mornings, she takes her time exploring the various places in her new home, and she goes on long walks if only to see all there is to see - and to take in the people she will be spending her time with.

one particular area of note, of course, is the fighting ring. it does not take her long to realize the dummies will continuously spring to life the more she kills. to others, it would be overwhelming.

for Saber, it is a challenge. and one she certainly isn't going to win.

but feel free to find her fighting, swinging what seems to be an invisible blade of air into the dummies, one after another, seemingly tirelessly (for now). or perhaps someone might want to encourage her to take it easy??? didn't she just arrive?? ]


feasting.
[ you thought Saber wouldn't go here first, didn't you.

naturally, after the sort of training she does, Saber just. wants to stuff her face. there are so many new foods to eat, some familiar and some completely foreign to her. each of them deserve to be sampled and enjoyed, though, and she washes each dish down gratefully with water (or tea) and little else.

the side dish - which looks a little like pudding - tries to walk away. she reaches over with a fork and stabs it into the table.

Saber clears her throat, looking it over. ]

Does this look like something from your home? [ it's directed to whomever's nearest her. she lifts the fork and the pudding-thing waddles away. she frowns. does she dare go after it...?

eh. there's more food to be had. she can let it be. to the same person, she gestures with a fork. ] Do you have any recommendations? There's so much...


wildcard.
[ I'm open to literally any kind of encounter!! I'm still voicetesting her so any feedback is welcome! As for canon point, I still haven't nailed down if I want early king days or if I want something later (probably post-UBW or F/GO), so I might play around with different canon points to see what fits best. c: Thanks for understanding!! ]

feasting!

[bleps]

[The individual nearby happens to be Connor, one who doesn't require food at all, but has wandered this way out of an innate desire to explore. Driven by curiosity, as often seems to be the case in regards to the Temple, or the strange places in which Astoria whisks them away to visit. Some of the dishes are familiar, and many others are decidedly not. Especially the ones that glow, or decide to literally wander off of their plates, threatening to just... waddle away like it was normal.

This place, he's learned, has a strange baseline which defines normal on a good day.]

No. [As in, no, that is definitely not something that resides in his world -- pudding with a mind of its own.] Desserts don't try to run off, where I'm from.

[Should he stop it? The LED at his temple flickers a few times as he watches the side dish fall off the table with a victorious plop, slowly begins to slide past his shoe, and nears the wild freedom found in blades of green grass.

Okay then.]

What kind of food do you like to eat? [He says a moment later, lifting his eyes back up to look at her.]

elizabeth | persona series

[elevelvetor]

「i」
[ Elizabeth?

Is Delighted. By literally everything here, actually. She chats with the misty servants, she chats with people she sees around the temple, she's inspecting the giant jack-'o-lantern like doing so will give her some clues to some mystery she has in her head—

And then she starts to, hm.

Climb it? Yes. It's sort of hard given it's a round pumpkin, but she's like, doing her best... That's really what matters. ]

「ii.」
[ Skeletons are objectively cool, though they make for poor conversation partners... Which is something she finds quite quickly.

Dance partners, though? They're wonderful. Her voice is a slightly haunting refrain—though that may just be the effect of the fog—as she sings, dancing along with them flash mob style. ]

Veeelvet, oh vel-vet ♪ My Maaaster has a long nose... ♪

「iii.」
Good day, denizens of this world. I am Elizabeth, an attendant of
Well, it doesn't quite matter at the moment, as my duties are neglected two times over now. Regardless, I have but one question to pose to all of you, and I would be quite thankful for your honest, open opinion and answer.
How is it that an ordinary skeleton can survive outside of its human host?
Thank you for your time.

iii

[extirpator]

The skeleton is alive.
Not all of them need human hosts to live.

garnet til alexandros / final fantasy ix

[babelicious]

i; great pumpkin (charlie brown)

[ well.

garnet has seen a great number or strange and interesting things once she'd left her castle to explore the world, but an enormous pumpkin? not among them. still, it's quite fascinating, isn't it? just how did it manage to grow so big?

nevermind that she is completely discounting the idea of magic, operating under the sole assumption that this pumpkin definitely grew this way all on its own, with a splash of normal, non-magical fertilizer and some tender love and care. she's not quite thinking outside the box so far as comically large festive fruit is concerned.

anyway, there appears to be something inside. after a quick glance left and right to make sure no one is.. looking.. she snags the bottom "lip" of the jack-o-lantern's mouth to heft herself up - and promptly falls right inside with a shriek of surprise. ]

ii; the feast

[ lavish meals are not unknown to her. in fact, since returning to her duties as queen she eats well every day.

let it not be thought that she is ungrateful. she loves alexandria from the very bottom of her heart, and nothing makes her more proud than to oversee its protection and urge it to thrive, but here, far from home, looking down this long table she cannot help but yearn for another time. the year she spent traveling was a tumult of emotion, but ultimately, they were the best days of her life. she learned so much about herself. she grew as a person, as a summoner, as a queen, those short months shaping her far more than the many years that had come before it, tempering her into the person that she is today. she will ever be grateful for the time she spent on the road, and so too will she ever be grateful for the privilege of ruling alexandria.

still, the wanderlust will always be there, nestled close to her heart. she had not thought she would be offered the opportunity to adventure again, and yet, here she is.. quite against her will, perhaps, but it would be a lie to say she is not.. just a little excited. beneath the worry and indignation, of course. will alexandria be all right without her? they'd already lost one queen, and so recently..

anyway. that's more than enough internal monologuing for now. with a hard exhale, she stares down the plate ahead of her, that appears to be stacked high with something.. vividly pink and - squirming??

hm.

with a crease in her brow, she just.. picks it right up, turning it over in her hand. ]

Is it alive?

iii; wildcard

[ come at me!! garnet will be exploring every nook of the temple, and she can probably also be caught singing to birds like a real disney princess, almost anywhere, so long as she thinks no one is watching. ]

ii!

[punshots]

Iiiii wouldn't eat that if I were you.

[ Prompto can appreciate the variety that Astoria has prepare for them here, and there's definitely some good stuff on the table he hasn't had for ages, but...there is also a lot of...weird stuff. Like that squirming pink thing the girl seated next to him picks up. Like, that can't be edible, can it? Food shouldn't...move on its own.

It should never move on its own.

Tentatively, he reaches out to poke a finger into the pink thing's rubbery surface, his brows drawing together in concern. ]

Yeah, better stick to good, ol' mashed potatoes and gravy.

[ Unless the gravy has an attitude, too. ]

hibiki kohaku | blazblue

[secrowtary]

( A: the great pumpkin )

[ Scouting the area to gather as much information as possible is one of his duties back home, so it should be surprising that he decides to step inside the great pumpkin. Obviously, there's no better time to examine it than after the sun sets. The bizarre shadows don't affect him at all, even that one which resembles a werewolf. On the other hand, his eyes start shining when he notices a bowl filled with candy. Whenever he realizes that someone is exploring the mysterious pumpkin along with him, Hibiki will sneak up to them silently in order to make this peculiar journey inside the giant vegetable more spooky. ]

Boo.

[ His voice is soft, but he'll make sure that he's heard. ]

( B: spooky scary skeletons )

[ Hibiki's lost count on the skeletons that decided to follow him, to be honest. At least they're following him in a straight line, which is definitely praiseworthy. Soon enough, he realizes that they listen to some commands, which opens up limitless possibilities. ]

Do your paperwork. [ What a weird thing to ask of an army of skeletons. They just tilt their heads to the side, not really sure what he meant. ] This certainly feels like home.

[ Someone is missing his boss whose redeeming qualities are buried under being a notorious slacker and a womanizer. ]

Salute.

[ This one works better, but the other movements are really unnecessary. Skeletons clearly want to dance, but Hibiki ignores that. ]

What should I tell them to do next, I wonder.

( C: fall feast )

[ In Hibiki's book, this feast gets a solid 8/10, but the rating goes up higher when he realizes that a certain kind of cake is waiting for him on one of the tables. He lets out a quiet gasp and approaches closer, not really believing what he is seeing. The shape is perfect, and he needs to see if the same applies to the consistency. He scoops the transparent cake with the wooden spoon, puts in his mouth and: ]

Ten out of ten.

[ Although it's just...water... ]

( wildcard )

[ i'm open to anything!! feel free to pm this journal or pp koohii for plotting! ]

b

[humerous]

[One of the skeletons is shorter, poorly dressed (if your clothes are scruffy, certainly being a naked skeleton makes you look sharper) and most importantly neither in the group or obeying "orders". He's just standing beside Hibiki and watching, a little amused.]

Sheesh. When will skeletal oppression end at the hands of fleshies, huh?

honerva(?) | voltron: legendary defender

[quintessencial]

i;

[The lurch is unexpected, and so is the place she finds herself. Old, with all sorts of unfamiliar, alien things, and Honerva is fascinated by all of it. She's especially fascinated by the magic and the misty servants.

She can actually be found following one of them, as it goes about their day, a look of wonder on her face. It's not alchemy, as far as she can tell, but it's still absolutely fascinating.]

ii;

[She has no idea what this is. It's massive and inexplicably filled with sweets and candles, and bright orange. The pumpkin has stumped her, absolutely.

It's not a surprise that the people here aren't Altean, but that doesn't excuse or explain this peculiar custom.

Hmm.]

What do you think would happen if you stayed in it over night?

[She rubs at her chin, looking thoughtful.]

iii;

[Someone has not been very careful. The rattling of the bones is probably more obvious than Honerva herself, as she's found herself surrounded by her new... friends? Companions? Servants?

She's not really sure, but she's too charmed by them to be bothered. The living dead, who seem eager to please. And eager to dance.

She claps out a beat for them, a laugh on her lips, as the skeletons do their thing.]

Oh, wonderfully done!

iv;

Greetings.
I've been informed the massive beast outside is a pumpkin of peculiar size.

What is the average size of a pumpkin?

v;

[Wildcard! She will be around - also, some OOC clarification: I am a Monster (tm) and this is a pre-quintessence field exposure Honerva. (A pre-Haggar-Haggar, if you will.)

For now, at least. :^) If you have any questions or want to make plans, you can reach me at daintily]

ii

[spaceforged]

[He doesn't recognize the voice, but Shiro still turns his head to look at the stranger with the Lion's yellow eyes. He freezes at the sight of her. An Altean.

His yellow eyes flare brighter and the pick-up truck sized metal lion turns to purple light, collapsing in on itself and reshaping into a man. Shiro rolls back of his shoulders back. He rubs at his left arm with the white fingers of his right hand exposing the Voltron V on the back of it.]

Probably nothing but you never know with Astoria. She seems a little inspired so it could be some kind of prank occurs.

morrigan | dragon age (series)

[nogoldenmirror]

i. what in the world is kansas a jack-o'-lantern?

[Perhaps to most waking in another world different from one's own would be enough to cause alarm. For her, 'tis the sudden jerk, the voice, and the sensation of a hand on her back as she lay there. Morrigan starts, rolling to her side and looks around frantically for what is currently lacking: her pack. It took only a moment for her to realize both her staff and her mother's books are gone. She mutters something under her breath about spirits as she moves to her feet, already on guard.

Yellow eyes flare in anger, drowning out any semblance of fear and alarum. She has been to a place much like this many times, but never physically.]

Ah yes, how shall I guess this is possible, hm? [Complaining to herself? Why, yes she is! Along with crossing her arms.] T'was not a spell gone wrong. I know my magic well and mother's. And t'was certainly not a demon...

[Despite... all the spirits wandering the temple... Were she Andrastian, she'd swear by that absentee father figure's name. Instead her mood only sours further.] I don't suppose you know, either? Or are you going to simply stand there and stare?

[It wouldn't be surprising; she is beautiful, and also showing a fair amount of skin despite the... well.] And what is the necessity for a large gourd being carved such? 'Tis most wasteful.

ii. send shivers down your spine~ (ooc. thanks; it's stuck in my head now.)

[Warnings about leaving the temple did not stop her from going to at the very least wander outside the walls. The fog is almost more comfortable than the magic-laden halls. She's wandered the winding paths of the Fade, watched spirits both hostile and non reflect what they've witnessed, refusing to interact with any or speak at all with them. Knowledge of and actively practicing were two different things, even here. She counts the steps she takes and memorizes them in order to keep from becoming lost.

An effort that is slowly paused when she catches sight and sound of bone shambling through the thick mists. She knew the sound anywhere, and when the first one notices the young witch, she frowns.]

Well, well. What have we here? Some comical attempt at conjuring the remnants of the dead?

[An eyebrow raises as one shambles into reach. Was it real? A horrendous mockery of all the corpses and piles of bones that she'd seen animated by spirits that clung tightly to the remains of those who perished where the Veil was thin back home? Or, was it solid and very much real? She lightly taps one with her left index finger to find it is the latter.]

Hm, yes. How very quaint. [Morrigan says, withdrawing her hand.] One wonders if she altered their appearance so as to not terrify babes. Such a foolish notion.

[But then, even her own mother hid the darker side of what she'd done to the Templars from her when she was young. The thought hits her hard enough it breaks her icy exterior for a brief second before her walls return. Just in time to notice a second to join the one she'd poked.

She scoffs.] I will get nowhere like this. [The skeletons keep looking at her.] Go on, shoo. I will not be bothered by you ilk.

[Another joins them, then a fourth, and a fifth. She throws up her arms in irritation and disgust and keeps moving. With her skeletal posse.]

iii. wildcard!
[Despite her rough edges, Morrigan is very much curious about this place. So if neither of these two work? Feel free to hit me up with any other prompt available or poke me on plurk (twilitfall or a PM on this journal to set up something else! 8D I'm so sorry for this prickly pear of a draconic shapeshifter. She gets better, promise!]

i

[extirpator]

[ nier cants his head, arms folded — if she's in a bad mood, it certainly does not faze him. ]

A witch runs this joint, and she likely brought you here to help her. None of us had a say in the matter, as far as I know.

[ he says that matter-of-factly, like it isn't personal. if anything, he's grateful to be here. ]

Well...for fun. We've been growing a lot of pumpkins as it is, so there's not much use for one that big. It's festive.

north / detroit: become human

[televised]

one - arrival:

[Hm. So. Hearing a stranger speak into her ear? Bad. Feeling someone put their hand on her back to rub between her shoulder blades? Even worse. The sensation is enough to make her want to rip her own skin off, to the point where falling flat on her face registers as a minor annoyance compared to all of this shit. And like with many other situations she's faced in her life... North responds with the most powerful deterrent she knows.

Which is to say: violence. She's lashing out as soon as she's able to move, intent on smacking the shit out of any poor unfortunate soul who happens to be behind her. Sorry, but not sorry if it happens to be you.

Alternatively: The android equivalent of nausea is just as bad as the real deal, and just as capable of throwing her for a loop. Anyone who happens to be nearby is free to watch her try to smack the air behind her, right before she loses her balance and falls flat on her ass with a remarkable lack of grace. What's up, y'all?]

two - the great pumpkin:

[She won't venture inside the giant pumpkin just yet, but she's definitely curious enough to walk right up to it. Pressing her hand against it, she scrapes a fingernail against the surface as if to figure out whether it's an actual pumpkin or not. For a single, blissful moment, it seems like she's managed to calm down from her earlier freak out.

... And then the moment passes, and she's tilting her head to look at whoever else happens to be in the area with her. If they're human or happen to look like one, her stare is going to turn into a glare.]

Do you need something? [In other words: Leave her alone. At least her tone won't be as scathing if she's addressing someone who's decidedly non-human, even though it's not all that much better.]

three - spooky scary skeletons:

[At some point in all of this, someone is going to wander into the fog





and promptly stumble across North sitting on the ground, surrounded by a small skeleton army and just. Chilling. Tapping away at her smart watch. Apparently accepting the company of her new skeleton friends now that she's figured out she can't get the heck out of Dodge by just speed walking into the fog.

This is fine. Everything is fine. (It is not fine.)]

four - wildcard!

[Come up with your own prompt or remix one of the above. Feel free to send me a nudge via plurk (beheads) or a PM to this account if you want to hash something out!]

arrival.......

[bleps]

[Connor, in this moment, has either the best luck or the worst luck. Most would regard it as bad, probably, given the reception he's about to receive. How he could've stumbled across anyone else, anyone who might not be so inclined to turn around in irritation and suddenly backhand him across the face. Because seriously, what the heck.

That's what happens, though, the jolt of it careening across a cheekbone, the force causing his head to turn and his LED to go momentarily red, then flashes back to a steady yellow once he tears his gaze back to whoever this is. Oddly enough, he seems to be carrying in his arms a... bowl of candy(??). Fingers grip tightly against the edges, gone tense thanks to SOMEONE SMACKING HIM, the sweets jostling around in the container; it would almost be a hilarious sight to anyone watching this oncoming train wreck.

Processes shoot up in his mind, a number of actions queuing up as Connor decides just what to say, how to react to something so unexpected. Laughably, he ends up just standing there, brow creased, mouth tugged into a frown.]

Excuse me, but why did you hit me?

[exCUSE mE

This has all happened in the course of a second or two, maybe, his reply automatic and his eyes just now taking in North's appearance. Recognition doesn't come slowly (it never does for an android), but she'll be able to get a word or two in edgewise before he realizes what she is by familiar, mass-produced facial features alone. Maybe even notice the numbers on his jacket which read RK800 -- not like it's a subtle thing.]

morgana | the house in fata morgana

[witchship]

one of us, one of us

[ the girl in the traveling robes isn't one for groups or crowds. in fact, they make her quite uncomfortable. as such, she steals away from the majority, disappearing into the fog. there are stranger things out there than awakening in this place, wherever it is, whatever it is. the traveler loses herself to the fog, disappearing into it as easily as pulling the hood over her head.

the skeletons are alarming. she gets close enough for one to notice her, and the traveler pulls her hood down lower, trying to hide her face. as she does, the skeletal arm in her sleeve is exposed, and then begins the conundrum: morgana is absorbed into the horde. one of us, one of us, ONE OF US.

so - in the fog, there's a girl. and around the girl is a cluster of skeletons, shambling along, flanking her on all sides. she can't move, because all her exits are closed off. ]

Move! I must leave! I cannot stay here any longer, you foolish cluster of bones. I asked you to move, won't you please -

[ yeah, asking isn't going to work. ]

guillermo del toro's scary stories to tell in the dark

[ disclaimer: del toro did not direct this segment of morgana's jaunty harvest vacation.

the feast table is bountiful. it reminds her of times lost to the flow of memories, but ever present in her mind. such opulence and green makes her stomach churn, makes morgana want to retch. it's simply godless, in her opinion. as such -

there is a person with a hood hanging low over their head. they have pulled a chair away from the table, to a corner that somehow seems darker than the rest of astoria altogether. this person sits with their hands in her lap; one hand of flesh, the other of bone. their robes are torn and dirty, their feet bare, their energy seems to dare you to approach. if you choose to, a sickly sweet voice slips out from under the hood. it's hard to believe someone with such an appearance would so tender and gentle, so sugary and clear. it's like honey, perhaps, straight from the hive. ]

...Haha. Don't be so shy, my dear. Come, closer.

[ the flash hand rises, beckoning. do you take the invitation? ]

Would you like to hear a story? I've plenty to entertain those ears of your's.

wildcard

[ feel free to tag me with your own starter! i'm easily reachable through pm if you would like to hash something out in particular. ]

i hate you so much

[fragmento]

MORGANA!

[ MORGANA!! jacopo desperately attempts to swat the skeletons away, taking care to keep his PROMISE and not VIOLENTLY throw them aside.

but he is kind of failing on that front, so he is indeed attempting to shove, push and pull in each and every direction. ]

Release her at once you...skellymen!

Nate Heywood | Legends of Tomorrow

[annalist]

i. the arrival

[all things considered, nathanial heywood is probably a little calmer than a lot of people would be waking up in a strange place and time -- but it's probably because he's done some weird songs and dances like this before -- he met the other legends when rip tucked them all away in different time periods, after all. so maybe this is something like that. he knows constantine had been pretty ticked at them for releasing mollusk -- maybe this has something to do with that?

in any case he needs more information before he panics so nate does what he does best he gets up ans starts exploring the place, trying to take note of any architecture or art that might help him realize just where and when he is. he is a historian after all.

at least this gives him a mystery to solve and something to focus on other than the hole in his heart where amara used to live.]

ii. the skeletons

[in retrospect provoking one of the skeletons was probably not a great idea but in his defense he didn't mean to provoke it at all. he had just been trying to inspect it -- it looked more cartoony than realistic, not like anything you would see in ruins or burial places. the mistake had been touching it -- nate has a nasty habit of acting first and thinking second and this was definitely one of those times. and then he had tried to run from it but it followed him, and also gathered some friends in the process.

which is why he now has an entourage of skeletons following him around.]

Come on, if I was going to have a following of the undead why can't it at least be sexy vampires or something cooler than this?

[yes, this is the thing to be complaining about.]

iii. wildcard

[open to anything!]

ii also thanks for saving glucas

[archaeo]

They could be trying to kill you instead. I'd take it if I were you.

[She interjects from behind, wrapping an arm around one of his skeletons after watching carefully what had landed him in his position. But she also gets it. Aphra would love sexy undead instead of weird Force ghosts.]

What're you gonna make them do first? Conquer the galaxy? Start a dance troupe? Search for sexy vampires?

Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu | The World Ends With You

[giveuponyourself]

[A.] Temple of Beginnings
[If Joshua had to describe this, it felt sort of like dying, and waking up in the afterlife. So it would probably follow that this place was some kind of afterlife, if you believed in heaven and all that.

But Joshua also knew better, and knew this was most definitely not any kind of Heaven or afterlife, because he already knew how those worked. He had no idea what this was, or where it was, or how it worked. And he really really didn't like things that he didn't know about, and didn't know how it worked, or what it was, or where it was. So basically! He hated this!

The happy platitude did little to ease the angry crease in his brow as he started wandering around. This most certainly wasn't the RG-- but it didn't seem like the right vibe to really be the UG either. And he sure as hell wasn't in Shibuya anymore.]

Helloooooo~? [The watch seemed to function very much like his cellphone, but he quickly got bored of that and instead set out to look for someone to interrogate talk to.]


[B.] The Great Pumpkin


[Ah yes, the signs of the holidays. He hadn't really celebrated Halloween before, but JOshua had about zero reservations peaking into the giant pumpkin's mouth from the word 'go.'] Ooh...

[With nary a word of consideration for anyone else around, he's already stepping through into the thing's mouth to investigate its contents. And frankly, that was the best idea he had, because there was free stuff inside!]

What have we here...? [Pluck, let's grab one of thos weird floatin' candies right out of the air.]


[C.] Fall Feast

[And he's never celebrated anything like Thanksgiving either! He didn't really know what that was, and frankly the appearance of the table (both, it's actual look and the fact that it seemed to appear out of nowhere) was very strange, but Joshua had helped himself to a seat. Heck, he'd already bitten into one of the crepes he'd found at one end of the table (delicious) by the way, and was currently occupying himself with the weirder, kind of glowing mashed potatoes in front of him. Hiss feet were propped up on the table, his chair tipped back just a bit, and he was dubiously looking at the glowing... food, pushing it around his plate with a fork. ]

I wonder...

[And-- very carefully-- he lifts some up and gives it a lick.]


[D.] Wildcard

[He has no overpowered-powers and he's very grumpy about it! He does weird stuff cause he's bored! Feel free to add whatever you want!]

a- hi, hello, this is your doing somehow isn't it PRISSY-KID

[soundsurfing]

-gain, yo, ain't doin'-

[The ranting is cut off as the ranter comes in listening distance of the hello, and with the sound of "yo, who's dat!?" and some footsteps, eventual view. Good luck interrogating the dumb and bewildered, Beat stopping the moment he spots Josh.]

Oh, it's you.

[A small pause as a gear cranks rustily, Beat studying Josh like he's trying to piece two and two together and finally comes up with four and not twenty-two.]

YO, IT'S YOU!!

Sho Minamimoto | The World Ends With You

[algebro]

1. The Great Pumpkin

[This is all really weird but one thing that you can count on is Sho Minamimoto doing something dumb for curiosity or aesthetic and climbing into the mouth of a pumpkin that is easily the size of a master bedroom is definitely something dumb and mostly curiosity. What is the aesthetic value of such a big pumpkin anyway? It was just going to rot eventually, then be a big stinking trash pile in the middle of the temple, so that's great.

He's just goign to take a look inside before deciding that no, he doesn't want to deal with floating candles. Candy isn't worth it, and he's trying to watch his figure ANYWAY.]

Any of you oblique asymptotes wanna go in there and check this out? It's probably safe, even for you.

2. Spooky Scary Skeletons

[Now THIS was a good time. Sho had only planned on exploring outside a little, but after touching a skeleton and assessing that it wasn't interested in hurting him, he was glad to amass a small army of them. Good. He doesn't have a megaphone, but he does have an enraptured audience and that is almost as good.]

Hell yeah, let's get this party started! Listen up, paraboloids! Anyone who comes into your vision cones, you're gonna be taking them prisoner! I don't care how ya do it, tie 'em up, throw 'em in a hole, whatever, but I'm gonna be takin' over this trash heap and we got a lot of work to do...

Well, whaddya waiting for?!

[SIMPLE commands, they've got. This wasn't simple enough though so they just kind of stare at him dumbly, which just enrages Sho, getting him to stomp his feet, fuming and pointing at the nearest person he can see in this awful, thick fog.]

Go on you pathetic polynomials! Get 'em!

[OH! Okay. 'Get 'em' they got, so now the skeletons lurch and start heading out to 'get' whoever is nearby. Whatever that means.]

3. Fall Feast

[Okay so.

Food is great. Of course it is. Everyone likes to eat. But when will Sho see bioluminescent potatoes again? Never, probably. Now was not the time to eat, it was the time for art, and anyone coming even slightly near him would notice that he's just taking anything colorful and weird-looking and arranging it in a pile. It's kind of organized but also let's be real he's not known for sculpture, he's known for throwing trash into a junk pile so it might just look like he's REAL hungry.]

2 - seriously? sic'ing skeletons on simpletons?! sho sucks.

[soundsurfing]

[It had been fun at first - after the initial feeling of being in a horror movie - to have his own little skeleton following, but when they started to crowd more and more, he'd sent as many as he could on their way.

Except now they were coming back? Directly at him.]

Bros, he said go away, this ain- h-hey, yo!

[Conversation went out the window when the nearest skeleton grabbed. It wasn't hard to break the grip, but it just got promptly replaced by another skeleton, then several more, all who seemed intent on trying to drag their definitely-weighs-more-than-them capture in a certain direction. Not that it was doing much good, so Beat just sort of stood there awkwardly being skele-groped.]

Leggo, this is weird! Why ain'tchu listenin'?

bakugou katsuki / mha

[explosivo]

skeletons. [ this kind of... reminds him of the summer camp test of courage trial...

anyway let's get one thing straight, bakugou does not scare easily or rather he'd like to say he doesn't do scared at all. but he probably wouldn't say that out loud because he hates to lie. all of this spooky mist and shit is kind of lame but he does go venturing out into it out of curiosity and trying to get his bearings in this new world and...

comes face to face with skeletons.

the moment they move he nearly flinches. ] Fu-- [ and then instantly bristles because he didn't just flinch damn it nobody better not have seen that. he casts an irritated look around--seems like only fog in this area, or at least it'd better have been nobody better have seen that embarrassing display. and then he snarls at the bone man. ] Hey corpse, the hell are you doing here. Why don't you drop dead?

[ it starts dancing defiantly at him.

.......... after a moment of him shooting it a death glare in which it doesn't obediently drop dead, bakugou walks off to try to ditch it.

or at least that's the plan but eventually a little conga line of skeletons trail after him like ducklings. ]

How the fuck do you get these things to stop following you?! [ NOW he's kind of spooked. ]



fall feast. [ this spread is kind of impressive but you know what it needs more of?

hot shit.

bakugou might even be seen helping prepare more dishes because he kind of does have a talent for food prep but his immediate concern is what he wants to eat and what he likes is hot food. so that means stuffing peppers with rice and turkey and also... chili peppers. yes. he would happily eat one with a severe heat unit and barely break a sweat, and maybe also watch any hapless onlookers or feast-attenders who might eat one and get a mouthful of habanero pepper-levels of pain. ]


anything else. [ tag me with anything...?! ]

skeletons!!

[heartslight]

[ Kairi's been wandering around with skeleton followers of her own, so she somewhat knows what she's doing with them. Except unlike him, she's not afraid or annoyed by them at all — they're actually pretty fun. So when she hears his angry question as she comes within earshot, she can't help but respond (ignoring his very un-disney-like language). ]

They start to listen to you after a while. Here, see? [ Turning toward her own small band of skeletons. ] Um ... Raise your arms!

[ And suddenly they're all raising their arms like they're on some sort of roller coaster. Yep. ]

Billy Kaplan | Marvel 616

[actualwizard]

i. the great pumpkin

[ Exploring his new surroundings seemed like a normal enough first step to getting used to this new world, he was afterall almost a pro at taking the really really weird and just rolling with it. But even after everything he's been through a giant pumpkin was not something he expected. At all.

So of course he's climbing in it.

Who doesn't want to climb in the giant pumpkin? its really just beckoning. Its like telling someone not to push the red button. Billy does like to jump first and deal with the consequences later. So he's inside, looking around when he spots the candy. Four years in Wonderland taught him a few things but the biggest was don't just eat food weird worlds try to give you. Those are consequences he's not prepared to deal with yet. ]

Are we sure those are safe to eat?

ii. skeletons on parade

[ He's not sure what he's doing exploring this fog- especially since he's very aware of his lack of powers should he need to defend himself, but here he is venturing into the unknown. Also he might be a bit lost and trying to back track didn't actually work out so well. So he's soldiering on, he's bound to run into someone eventually, right?

Or he's bound to run into something else. Something like animated skeletons? What the...

he's too close and they are swinging around to look at him and he's jumping at least a foot in the air. His arms automatically go up to blast them but right, lack of powers. They don't seem to do anything else so he gets closer and closer until he touches one and then. Well. The results are obvious.

Billy has at least ten skeletons following him through the fog. ]

I don't suppose you guys could do something useful like get me out of the creep fog, huh?

iii. wildcard

[ Anything your heart desires ]

01.

[geomagnetically]

[ The green haired, green eyed mutant, who appears in her late thirties, just shrugs at the question. ]

If it isn't, is candy a really such a bad way to go?

[ She likes to think she has a point there. ]