Character Carnival

Mary burst out of the door, with all of her stuff back on her. She jumped from puddle to puddle, ruining her tennis shoes even more. She ran through the open fence, and dugged her heels into the ground to make her stop. She was now outside of her home.

Frantically, she looked around, seeing if anyone was nearby. The rain was getting harder, soaking into the concrete ground. She couldn't see what was beyond fifteen feet clearly, and anything thirty feet away was virtually invisable, except for the structures.

Structures. Large objects.

Mary turned her head towards the entranceway and looked up at the horizon. Although she could barely see what was beyond, what she could see was obvious.

The position of the mountains were wrong. They were outside of the valley.

She dropped the umbrella and ran.

Something pounded against the inside of his skull. Pounded, pounded so hard. His vision grew spotty, and he felt himself doubling over into a mirror. He didn't even notice, let alone feel what was rumbling.

Why was he getting a migraine now?

"Mister Cyrus!"

He opened his eyes to find Elise standing over him.

Oh, God.

He glanced to his left, at the mirror, turning his throbbing head slowly towards his reflection. But it was not his reflection.

Instead, he saw the glowing yellow eyes and orange scales of a koi.

No... no... it can't be...

The koi swam out of the top of the mirror.

"Molly!" Elise hugged her now giant friend. "You're okay-!"

They heard a familiar voice. "THERE THEY ARE!" Wenger.

When the three turned to look, flashes of silver were flying towards them. Molly dove in front, letting the silver pierce her, but to no ill effect. As though they were fish flakes, she simply loomed over them, her mouth wide open, devouring Wenger whole.

How dare they harm Elise. How dare they turn her away. How dare they separate her and Elise. Rage and vengeance turned into power.

Cyrus tried to see what she was doing, but he couldn't even see straight now.

Horrified at the monster they inadvertently created, the rest of the ghosts fled. She swam over to Cyrus, attempting to end him quickly...

"No! Molly, stop! Something bad's going to happen!" She helped Cyrus outside- Molly's sheer strength was pounding his head beyond belief. The three turned to see a very worried Mary.

Now, what?

Mary saw Cyrus and Elise exit the house. She quickly turned back to them.

"I found what's wrong!" Mary said, fists against her hips. She pointed to the horizon and said, "That isn't what the horizon is suppose to look like! We're right outside the valley, instead of in it. It must be either something moved the carnival away, or..."

The ground shoke, causing Mary to stumbled sightly. A loud rumbling sound came from the back of the carnival.

"Oh, no." Mary looked towards the back of the carnival. In the distance, she saw something rising.

"I think something had started!" she bolted towards the rising building.

OOC: Can I get a recap?

OOC: Discussion thread.

edited 1st May '11 10:23:04 AM by chihuahua0

Kiora put a hand on the older woman's shoulder. "There really wasn't anything you could have done," she said. "Hell, I could have done something, but she didn't let me."

Should have, though, she thought. "I guess you can't save everyone."

"You got that right, kid," said a familiar voice behind her. Kiora suppressed the urge to jump for joy.

"Kohana," she said, turning. "Took your sweet time."

The vampire ran a hand through her waist-length blond hair. "Yeah, well, you forgot this." She tossed a katana in a black sheath to the ninja. "I told you I use it to track you when we're in different dimensions."

"Yeah, yeah, it's the only weapon I have that's been imbued with your blood or some crap like that."

Kiora was knocked off her feet as the ground shook. "What the hell was that?"

'I just hope it's not a fucking demon." Cyrus was still clutching his head, in some vain attempt to get his migraine to lessen.

He just couldn't concentrate anymore.

Elise looked back at Cyrus, her large eyes tinted with apprehension. "Molly and I will go see what the rumbling is, if you want, Mister Cyrus..."

"Yeah, sure. Go."

It didn't feel like a demon to him. If Molly was strong enough on her own to give him a migraine, whatever caused the carnival to start rumbling would've made his head explode or something. Which likely meant that Molly and Elise would be immune, and he wouldn't be scolded for leading a benign ghost and demon to their doom.

As they moved away from him, the pounding lessened until it became the mild tingling and lightness that he had been feeling all throughout the place, followed by his halo vanishing. He didn't feel anything, aside from those two. That meant... that he could leave after he sent them away. YES!

But... he still couldn't think straight. What was he doing...?

The rising sun bled over the horizon and Adam came to a rest upon the hilltop. From there, he could see everything. The grassy plains shone in the dawn light quite beautifully, as if they were an army of angels.

"Absolutely stunning. I guess this is what they mean by simple pleasures." Adam closed his eyes, the image of the plains still shining bright. He hadn't had a moment like this in a while. It would be prudent of him to archive it for later.

He sighed and let himself relax. Opening his eyes again, the light filled him. He could not feel the warmth, but the idea of it was enough.

But then he noticed something he hadn't seen before. A large tent, standing upright in the middle of the plains. He looked closer. He could make out smaller tents, vendors, and curious metal contraptions he'd been told were called "roller coasters".

A thousand more images flashed in the back of his mind. The particularly potent ones floated to the surface of his conscious mind. A brightly lit stage. Flashily dressed performers and acrobats. Lions, tigers, bears (oh my!). More rides, filled with children and their parents. Mommy, I wanna go to the carnival!

Carnival

"So it's a carnival then? I've never been to one, have I?" Adam finished. He stood up, bootprints sinking into the ground. With a new curiosity, he trudged downhill to the circus.

From the source of the rumbling, there was a rising house.

The previously empty lot came the building, ascending from the dust. It was of the gothic hunted style, with rotting panels and dead grass. The widows were cracked, but not shattered. The house was three stories tall, with a tower that added two more levels. It was no standard carnival hunted house, it was full-blown.

Mary stood there, gaping. Her hoodie was getting drenched again in the rain, which was falling harder.

"What the..."

The rain-slicked ground shook and Adam tumbled down the hillside.

"Ow! Shit! Goddammit! Christ!" Adam shouted, calling on a large and growing collection of expletives he'd picked up from Rebecca. The meaning or relevance of half of them were still lost on Adam, but he figured a moment of such physical distress would be good a time as any to use them.

His landing was less than graceful, pounding him into the ground. He spat out a hearty helping of muck and tried to stand, tripping once or twice in the process. He adamantly stomped his boots into the wet ground as a foothold and tried wiping himself clean, or as clean as he could get at this point. All that really seemed to do was smear the mud around even further. He looked at his mud-slicked fingers and sighed.

"Well this is a right fine mess. Literally." He chuckled.

Then he looked up and saw a building rise out of the ground in front of him. The appropriate emotion, he thought, should be shock. Awe perhaps. But Adam didn't feel any of those things right now. Instead, he made do with a simpler response.

"That... should not be possible."

Kiora jumped back to her feet out of the mud. I think I might need that food pellet now, she griped, pulling the tiny pill out of her pouch. She crunched down on it and swallowed, thankful for the chakra it provided.

"Did you do this?" she asked Kohana. The vampiress shook her head.

"I have absolutely no idea," she said. "I don't know anything about this universe. You were supposed to be training under Pai-Mei without chakra right now."

Kiora turned her attention to the house in front of them. She activated her Byakugan, trying to see into the structure.

Far ahead, Elise reflexively took cover as the edifice magically rose right out of the ground, letting out a deep rumble that resonated across the carnival. The koi positioned herself around the girl's back, ready to counter in case anything crawled out.

When the rumbling finally stopped, Elise's eyes widened in awe and fear. It was just like a haunted house... but she couldn't feel or hear any ghosts.

Neither could Cyrus.

He was officially out of his element now, dealing with stuff beyond what he was taught. There was... honestly no use in complaining or backing out. He might as well just roll with it now that he didn't have the excuse of a demon-induced migraine to cloud his thoughts. Fuck, cleaning a bunch of weak ghosts and demons out of a carnival is an entry-level assignment. How the hell did Matt not catch it?

Oh, yeah. He's blind.

"Great. Who wants to go in first?"

edited 2nd May '11 5:43:44 PM by CrystalGlacia

Adam studied the structure. Pneumatics? No, job done too quickly. Sudden shift in fault lines? Doesn't account for vertical movement. Jet propulsion? ... Okay, that's just silly.

He tried cross referencing the phenomenon but came up with nothing. This was new. New was good. Usually. Deciding to take his chances, he sought out anyone who might be able to explain the building to him.

"Hello? Is there anyone here? I'd rather appreciate someone filling me in."

Kiora couldn't see into the house, as there was a physic forefield blocking her powers. It rippled in her sight, but stayed solid. Strangely, the dust and rain was sliding off the sides and roof of the house, falling out of existance. The whole place gave out an unearthly feel.

Mary looked at the house, eyes widened. It had stopped rising. It wasn't there before. The mystery was excelating.

"Should I go in..." she thought. She looked behind and saw Cyrus, that ghost girl, and a...large fish spirit. An intimidating one.

"Do you know anything about this?" she asked him.

She thought she heard a voice in the rain.

edited 2nd May '11 5:48:31 PM by chihuahua0

Looking up at the new building, Valentine came to a conclusion.

I'm in Hell, it's the only way to explain this shit. I died on my way to the next job. St.Peter saw my rap-sheet and just threw me in Hell on principle. Between fainting, watching a young girl die after making friends with her, and now this, I wish I was in the fire and brimstone version.

Still, might as well ride this out until the end.

"Kiora," Valentine began to ask, "I see you staring excessively hard at that place. Care to enlighten us on what you see?"

edited 2nd May '11 5:52:14 PM by GIG

"Yes, please do. This building presents a rather perplexing hole in my databank." Adam said plainly. He stood in the rain for a few seconds, trying to look as friendly as and not intimidating as possible. Kind of difficult for a six foot-six man with bright red hair and a ponytail. Nobody responded to his question, barring a raised finger that was quickly put away.

"Hmmm. Tough crowd."

Mary turned her head to the new-comer, who had probably came from the back of the carnival. He looked normal enough, but again, looks could deceive. As far as she knew, she would be the only "normal" person around.

"Oh," she waved her hand. They were standing about fifteen feet apart, "Hi. I'm Mary, and this is my carnival. All of these people had been arriving and spirits having been running around, so...we're looking for a cause." Hopefully, he would be the last one.

She pointed at the haunted house, "I'm thinking about looking in there."

"Oh, they lighten up if you get to know them. Just don't try to insult them. Trust me, I learned the har-"

Hold on a minute. Who am I talking to?

Turning to face the man, she nearly jumped when she saw the physically imposing person before her eyes. Rolling her eyes, she arrived to the natural conclusion.

Another poor sap who got stuck here too, eh?

"Alright, let's streamline this: What's your name and where do you come from?"

edited 2nd May '11 6:11:08 PM by GIG

He turned towards the voice. A new guy. Why.

His job was technically done, but he'd get chewed out for not investigating the place. Fine.

He swore that Vince came here at some point, because literally everything he touches is bound to turn weird, just like him. It's his fault this carnival is so fucked up.

Turning to Mary, too annoyed for his normal insincere smile, he said, "Why not. Hey, you can even have Molly the car-sized goldfish lead you in." He always seemed to sound insincere, even during emergencies.

Mary turned back to Cyrus, and looked at the large fish more. It could'nt be a goldfish, unless it was a goldfish from another world. Or maybe it was a spirit of a goldfish. She could go on and on.

She waved the group together and said, "Okay. I think we should go into the haunted house, even though it always ends badly in the movies. Maybe the source of all of this chaos is in there. Who's with me?"

She looked back at the haunted house. It was giving off an eerie feeling, as expected.

edited 2nd May '11 6:14:17 PM by chihuahua0

"I am merely a wanderer, no need to fear. Someone I know told me I need a bit of fresh air, so here I am. I am ADAM, although you may call me Adam. It's currently serving as my temporary moniker."

He held out his hand as dictated by custom (best not be rude!). "It's good to meet you."

edited 2nd May '11 6:24:43 PM by KSPAM

"As your master, I insist you enter," Kohana said, prodding Kiora in the back. "Call it some training."

"Great," Kiora muttered dryly. Can't see a damn thing, either. "So who gets to go in the spooky house first?"

She drew her kunai. Might as well try and be ready for... whatever it was in there. Man, what a day this has been, she thought.

Mary also noticed the person behind Kiora, "Another one! How many are there?"

She extended out her hand to Adam and shook hands with him. ADAM. He must be from a futuristic story, "Nice to meet you." She then turned to the house. They were pretty much ready to go in. She took out her flashlight and turned it on, and pointed it to the doorway. It looked safe enough, with no traps.

"I'll lead the way," Mary insisted. She walked towards the yard.

"Delightful."

Adam squinted, adjusting his eyes to the darkness beyond the house's doors. Real clarity would take a minute, but the immediate future looked clear for now. He strolled after the others, stepping inside the house.

Unholstering her pistol, Valentine smiled.

So this is the endgame, huh? Well, I couldn't imagine a better final dungeon.

"Right behind you Mary, I've got your back."

Alright, this time, I stand and fight. Valentine shivered, Even if things become horrifying, I'll stand my ground. She started forward. Are you watching, Polly? I'm sorry for leaving you alone. I was a selfish idiot. I ran, and left you to face that freak. This might not bring you back, but I hope that I can at least make it up to you by helping bring everyone home.

edited 2nd May '11 6:44:02 PM by GIG