Character Carnival

Why bother getting into a group to search for behemoths that you can't even fight? That's... futile, if he ever saw it.

Cyrus was already searching around another area of the park, trying to follow the faint feel of a ghost... or a demon... or something. It was like trying to search for a single voice in a room full of people... which he found nigh impossible. He couldn't even tell from what direction it was; he just knew it was in front of him. Well, good, that narrowed it down to 180 degrees to pick apart.

Maybe if he practiced his paranormal sensing abilities... no. No. His halo always lit up whenever he was at Castle Laboratory or Viktor's house. That was out. Sure, Amy could pick out Marla in a haunted house from 500 meters away, but that was because she had no life.

The rain picked up, but he could care less. Matt taught him how to keep his stance in rainy conditions, and his cloak hood kept his head dry.

As he kept going, he could sense it a little better. It was in the ballpark between twelve and three o'clock, there we go...

Was it malevolent, or not?

It wasn't; the angsty ones and their melodramas grated hard enough against his skull to necessitate having their throats slit. Just a ghost this time. Shouldn't be too bad.

He neared a walkway lined with old carnival games. Further down, he could see the translucent shape of... a little girl. On her knees. Crying. In a way that reminded him of Lucy Summers.

This would be fun.

Cyrus grinned, then suppressed a chuckle as he put on his best facade of concern. He approached her slowly.

"Hi, there." His tone had a touch of fake sugar to it. "Are you okay?"

The ghost girl- she was probably five-ish -wiped away some tears as she turned towards him. "Huh?" Her voice was small and quiet, like any stereotypical little girl. "That halo... are you one of those people who helps ghosts?"

It probably was not a request to go to the afterlife. "Yes."

"My friend disappeared... Could you help me find her?" She had the puppy-dog-eyed look down.

Cyrus was not the person for matters like this. He sighed. "Well, what does she look like?"

"She's a goldfishie. People like you always tell me that I should just go be with Jesus, but I'm not leaving without Molly! Would you leave your best friend behind?"

"Well..."

The little girl grabbed his cloak in her small hands. "You'll help me, right? Because friends never leave each other behind!"

What did he get himself into? Her goldfish was guaranteed to've died already; those things don't last long. This little excursion shouldn't be too bad...

"Sure. I'll help you."

Polly felt her heartbeat pound harder as the thunder claps sounded, each succeeding one more volatile than the former. The rain, wind, and thunder brought back of her thoughts of her elementally powered leader Zooey all over again. She wasn’t sure where the Malone Carnival was, but if she didn’t think that it was far from her hometown, Polly would have assumed that the poor weather was a a warning from Zooey. She let the needle-like rain pierce her skin as she stared up at the sky. “Just as long as there isn’t any lightning,” she whispered.

Polly unfolded her map and pretended to look at it again. Her mind wasn’t on any ghosts, demons, or dangerous animals around Mary’s home. She was still thinking about her aborted mission. Did the team defeat the vampires? Did they save any lives? Did they win? Polly felt the map slip out of her hands. She watched it as it dropped into the mud, but she didn’t make any movements to pick it up. The Magician’s words were still fresh in her head. Was she or any of her teammates even real? Polly had been told repeatedly to drop the theory, but it kept coming back up. It meant more to her than the others.

She watched as Cyrus skulked over to the opposite side of the fairground. A lot of could be said about the boy, but he was nothing but determined. Polly watched him, admiring the way he walked with purpose. He didn’t care about the others: his duty was fresh on his mind, and Polly respected that.

“ If Cyrus is fictional, then his creator must have a lot of plans for him,” Polly thought, bending down to pick up her map. “But what about me?” Why did she always have to be the one to mess up, get in the way? Sit on the sidelines while the others took control? “Why would anybody make me this way?”

Polly continued to watch as Cyrus disappeared from her view. He didn’t wait for directions; he knew what to look for. He took actions. It was time for her to do the same.

“I think I’m going back over to the concession stand,” Polly said to Mary. “I started to check that out before the bird came. I’ll see what I can find. Anyone want to join me?”

While she waited for a response, Polly turned her back to the group and reached for her headset. She shut her eyes.

The rain on her face began to feel suspiciously like tears. She brought the microphone down to her lips and readied her right finger to press the Power button her communicator. “If this is a fantasy,” Polly whispered, struggling to breathe. “Then Zooey will answer right away. And then she’ll say something encouraging, like she always does. She won’t be mad. She’ll take me back.” Polly held her hand up for some time, before letting it drop limply to her side.

She wasn’t ready to find out if this is her reality. Not yet.

Valentine looked at Polly. Jesus, the poor girl looks like shes about to break down! What does she have to worry about? At least she's useful! All I can do is argue with people and faint! I have more to worry about than she does!

Do you really? Valentine cringed as her own thoughts turned against her. Do you even give a thought to someone other than yourself? How do you know that what this girl is going through is less important compared to your shitty little complaints? For all you know, Polly has had more hardship than you! Miss "Big Shot Professional Thief"! What exactly do you have to complain about again? Being useful? Get over yourself!

Valentine hung her head in guilt. If this is what it felt like to be bitched at by her, she felt bad for anyone who who had to talk to her. Straightening, she stepped toward Polly.

Well, if I want to be useful, might as well start small, eh?

"I'll go with you Polly," Valentine said as she put a hand on the girl's shoulder, "Consider me at your disposal."

edited 25th Apr '11 9:34:51 PM by GIG

Polly felt her skin warm underneath Valentine’s touch. She wiped her tear and rain soaked face with the back of her hand pathetically.

“I’m okay. Really,” she found herself saying. “It’s just all of this stupid weather. I have Season Affective Disorder. No biggie, honest.” Valentine nodded and tried to smile, but Polly knew that she was rambling too much. She cleared her throat and attempted to steady herself before the two young woman started to explore. While the walk to the concession booths wasn’t a long one, their slow pace made the trek longer than it should be.

“To be perfectly honest,” Polly began. “I have no idea what we are supposed to be doing. Or what to look for.” She folded her map for the hundredth time. “What do you think? And, oh. What can you do?”

edited 27th Apr '11 11:13:41 AM by BetsyandtheFiveAvengers

Kiora watched silently as Cyrus stalked off into the rain. The exorcist was probably the closest thing she'd get to a challenge out here.

I just want this stupid training over with, she grumbled to herself. I should be fighting the Akatsuki right now, not sitting in some abandoned carnival in a universe I don't know "Without my fucking gear!" she shouted.

Frustration taking over, she flipped through the thirteen handsigns of her signature move, forcing the Eight Inner Gates open again. With a downward flick of her toe, she rocketed skyward, piercing the clouds. Soon she was above them, floating on a cushion of chakra beneath the starry sky, lost in her own thoughts.

And see, when I follow the rules, I get ninja'd. Oh well, didn't affect the outcome :P

edited 25th Apr '11 10:11:10 PM by animemetalhead

Oops. Sorry.

"What can I do?" Valentine parroted. A chance to have a friendly talk and assure my companion that I'm not completely useless? Well, I'm sure one of those will be easy enough.

"Let's see now," she said as she recalled her abilites in her head. "Well, I can pick locks, find unguarded points of entry into buildings, apraise expensive items well enough, and I am a pretty decent shot as well."

Pausing a moment to digest what she said she, nearly slapped herself Oh yes, isn't that skill set oh so useful. Honestly, what can you apply that crap to? Breaking into the hot dog stand?

She sighed. "I'm pretty damn useless, aren't I?"

edited 25th Apr '11 10:20:04 PM by GIG

Don't be. You ninja'd me by twenty minutes.

Okay, Kiora thought, picking out constellations she recognized. At least the stars stayed fairly constant between universes. So there's some mysterious force at this carnival that's drawing the unknown to it. It's highly likely, then, that this is why I'm here. So, logically, the way for me to get back is to find the source of this mysterious force.

She swore softly. I swear, the next monster that comes across my path is getting curb-stomped.

Sighing, she dropped the chakra cushion and drifted back to the ground, sighing again as the rain began to hit her. "I hate the rain," she muttered.

Now it was Polly’s turn to put her hand on Valentine’s shoulder. “No, I don’t think you’re useless at all. Especially if you are good with a gun. And getting yourself into buildings! Come on. I mean, I’m sure you’ve found a way to put your attributes to use.”

The two women had reached their destination. Polly scanned the area, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. She didn’t understand how Mary could live here. To Polly, the carnival’s emptiness was nothing more than a depressing remnant of what it used to be. There was no fresh food, laughter, or fun. Just faded paint and rust.

She leaned against an old funnel cake table and smiled up at Valentine. Polly had the mentality of a six year old. She could forget about her own pains if she could get distracted by somebody else.“So, what was that about being a thief earlier?”

Valentine shrugged. "It's what I've been best at all my life really." Seeing this as an unsatisfactory response, she continued. "It all really started when I was young. See, I was one of those 'Trust Fund Babies' that you here so much these days. My dad was the head of some arms development firm, Talon Industries I think it's called these days, and was really damn good at it. Currently half of the Army's equipment comes from them, so as you can imagine we were set for a good while.

"Any way, my mom, deciding that I need to be busy for most of my childhood, gave me a bunch of hobbies she deemed essential for a proper girl. There were the usuals: Cooking, sewing, piano, gymnastics, which I am pretty she had me do on impulse now that I think about it. But I didn't really care to be honest. I enjoyed those things for the longest time.

"But when I was twelve, I found a new obsesson. See, I had read a childrens 'Whodunnit' one day that had a interesting scenario, a heist of a mansion just like the one I was living in then. In it, the cuprit stole some dimonds from a safe in the owners room. See I knew that my dad had a safe in his room, so, on a whim, I decided to reenact the story in real life."

Valentine chuckled at the memory. "I was caught almost immediately. Turns out, my dad had a alarm system in the locks that told him when someone tries to pick them. But even as my add chastied me, I felt so proud! Finally, something that I wanted to do, something thrilling no less! So, I began studying my new craft. Turns out, I already had most of the skills I needed. The eye for detail from my cooking ablities helped me find holes in security I could exploit. My hands that had helped me in the details of my sewing helped my lockpicking as well. My ears could pick up the subtle differances in keys as well as the sounds of a safe's tumblers. And I should assume you know how the gymnastics helped.

"After five more years, I felt I was ready to try again, and this time I succeded. Turns out, he kept his copys of his contracts there. Daddy didn't find out until three days later when he went to put another one in it. He exploded at me. He told me that he knew that I did it, and if I valued my future inheritance, I would never even think of stealing from him again."

Valentine smiled. "I did it again, of course. This time I broke into his office and stole the information for his next development, some kind of new missle or some crap. I don't even know why I did it really, it just felt like the next step up from what I had done last time."

She sighed. "Turns out daddy wasn't kidding. The moment he found out he had security 'Assist' me out of the house with nothing but the clothes on my back and a thousand dollars so he wouldn't feel too guilty."

Valentine took a breath as she finished her story. "And from there, the story gets boring. For a few years, I hired myself out to people looking to get stuff that didn't belong to them, mostly corporations and large businesses. It's only been recently that I became a major player in this business, and I still have a long way to go." She tapped her chin a moment. "Of course, thats 'If' I get out of here alive."

Okay, I'm done for today. G'Night!

edited 26th Apr '11 12:01:17 AM by GIG

Mary stood by the Top Spin, alone. She was fingering the gun in its holster, and bitting her lip. The rain slid off her black umbrella, which was translucent. The wind picked up slightly, causing the overhangs of the booths to wave to the side. Yet again, it was silent.

Mary sighed and walked away from the Top Spin, "Which group should I join?" she thought. The reason she was at the Top Spin because she doubt the spirits would return near it. She turned on her flashlight and pointed it forward into the darkness. No spirits there. It was fortunate that none of them so far had been trying to be tricky.

"I'll check the carnival game section." she thought. She switched directions and went where Cyrus was.

Like most teenagers, Cyrus could not stand to work with children.

The whininess. The idealism. The little bastards could manipulate better than any adult could, just through cute looks. They made adults behave illogically, just because their conscience told them to "think of the children".

Yeah?

And then what?

Is the presence of a child supposed to impede your ability to complete a given task?

And yet here he had a five-year-old girl with him.

Rather... a piece of demon bait.

He wasn't enough of a lowlife to throw her out to a pack of demons as a snack, but ghosts were demon prey nonetheless.

And ghosts themselves tended to congregate together for emotional support... let's face it, she was inadvertently helping him do his job. A win-win situation for everyone involved, except the demons.

He put on an act of false concern as the two searched for a nonexistent goldfish.

“Wow,” was the only word that Polly could think to say. She picked a blue paint chip off of the booth and began to toy with it.

“I mean, it’s amazing that you came back from all of that,” she said. “If that was me, I don’t even know where I would be. And, how cool is it that you were able to turn boring skills like cooking into breaking and entering. Now, normally I wouldn’t condone stealing—my city is filled with enough corruption as it is—but I have a lot of respect for you, Valentine.”

The large chip that Polly had been fiddling with had turned into several little blue flakes. She brushed them off on her uniform and sighed. “You don’t have to worry, you know. I’ll protect you and make sure that you come out of this alive. Promise.”

Kiora cinched her kunai holster tighter, eying the people around her. Well, even if I don't want to be here, she mused. I don't have much choice. The least I can do is try to help everyone.

She straightened and gestured to Grimm.

"Yes, midget-sama?" he asked as he approached. "You rang?"

"Alright, now that we're done here, we're heading back to that Ferris Wheel, and maybe see what's up here," she said, gesturing at the upper-left portion of her map. "From there we'll improvise."

Do carnivals have roller coasters? I could imagine there being an old wooden one in a corner somewhere...

Valentine blushed. "I-it's not that amazing!" she stuttered. "Besides, I just confessed to two crimes! If anything you should be wagging your finger at me telling me how horrible I am!" She paused, and began to stutter again. "N-not that I'm ungrateful or anything. I mean, um..."

Noticing her blush, Valentine hid her face in her hands. ARGH! Why can't I do this! I mean, it's not like she's some intimidating figure! Man up and just thank her!

Slowly revealing her face, Valentine regained her composure. "I'm sorry," she muttered, "Just not used to getting praise, I guess." She paused a moment before continuing. "Thank you. I really mean it, thank you Polly."

edited 26th Apr '11 4:13:42 PM by GIG

"Hmm..." Mary thought, turning from side to side. She wondered where Cyrus had gone. Although he preferred to go alone, he would make a good partner. Even if he wasn't the nicest person, he was one of the more powerful fighters in the carnival. Plus, he hadn't been paired up with anyone.

Mary folded up the map and walked away from the Top Spin. She headed towards the carnival games. "I'll be looking for Cyrus," she said to the others, looking back at them. She then walked away from the small crowd.

As she approached the carnival games, she travelled at a brisk pace. She was now in risk of being attacked, so she needed to walk as fastly as possible.

Polly stifled her chuckles with her hands. When she calmed down a bit she spoke. “I’m really sorry. I said the wrong thing, maybe, but I meant it.”

She straightened up and paced around. The storm continued with no end in sight. It would be dark soon. Polly did her best work around midnight, yet she wasn’t certain about the creatures that would emerge from the carnival once night fell. She took another look around at the other guests at the Malone Carnival. Kiora and Grimm had began to explore on their own. Mary had apparently given up her search for Cyrus, and was now running towards the game area.

Polly turned to Valentine and pointed in Mary’s direction. “We should go and cover her. See if she needs any help.”

edited 26th Apr '11 5:21:06 PM by BetsyandtheFiveAvengers

Valentine nodded. "Yeah, she could use our help. Your ablities would probably useful. As for me..." she chuckled, "Well, you never know when you need to break into a cash register, now do you?"

Valentine started towards Mary, smiling to herself. Well now, hasn't this been a suprising day. Meet a bunch of strangers, faint at the sight of one, piss off two, and become friends with a magical girl. You don't wake up to that everyday, now do you?

"So a thief and a magical girl walk into a carnival..." She turned to Polly. "Remind me before the end of this to make a joke out of that sentence, okay?"

"I... just hope Molly's okay... wherever she is..."

Cyrus just pretended to not notice what she was crying to herself about, instead busying himself with staying locked on the ghostly feeling he was picking up on from a shooting game's booth.

It was a fearful, yet at the same time, a hostile presence.

Cyrus stopped. "Hey, you! You can't hide from me! Just come out and show yourself!" he called out over the rain.

Slowly, but surely, a ghostly figure emerged out from between two booths. With bulging, perpetually terrified eyes, and ragged clothes that hung on his bony, emaciated body, he had the appearance of a man who starved to death.

When he laid eyes on the little girl, they widened even more than before.

"That- That hellspawn! WE EXILED YOU FOR A REASON, and you dare to return with our savior wrapped around your finger?!"

So there's more than one?

The girl genuinely looked confused at this madman's outburst.

"Wh... What do you mean-?"

The man cut her off. "DON'T YOU GO PLAYING THE IDIOT! I KNOW HOW DISGUSTING LITTLE IMPS LIKE YOU OPERATE!"

Okay, something was going on that he was inevitably going to have to deal with. "How about you shut up for a second so I can try to help you?"

The man's eyes narrowed at Cyrus. He leapt onto him, trying to hold Cyrus by his collar. "Don't fall for her, son," he growled. "Don't even try to send her back, or she'll call up her pet demon to devour you, your tasty soul, just like last time..."

'Last time'? So that's what must've happened to that other chick Amy was talking about...

The girl stared up at the man, with tears in her eyes. "Molly's not a demon! She's my friend, and you're fibbing to him! That's a sin!"

"YOU WANT TO SEE SIN, YOU LITTLE HELLSPAWN?!" The man let go of Cyrus so he could raise the girl in a chokehold. "I'll show you a fucking sin..."

The man felt a sharp jab in his side, followed by the burn of silver spreading through his nonphysical body.

A dart.

The exorcist lowered his voice.

"You're getting in my way. I highly suggest that you go away before your own pointless angst turns you into a demon."

He seemed even more terrified than before now. It worked.

"Good. Now, beat it."

And the little bastard scurried away.

Mary saw a ghostly man passed by her, brushing against her. It went through her, sending a chill through her arm. She stopped and looked at it as it scurried away.

"Not another ghost..." Mary said, "I can't believe how inconsistent these spirits are."

She took just one step when she sensed something above her. She looked up.

From a tiny crack in the sky were a few tiny objects that were barely visible. They were spread out, but covering only a tiny area. They got closer, and she could see that they were oval shaped. When they were forty feet away, they were identifiable.

Frogs. Large, green ones.

Mary held her umbrella tight, just in case some of them hit her. She scrunched her eyes, preparing for impact. She could imagine their bodies landing, jolting her arm with great force, before sliding off, leaving green blood to stain her umbrella. It wouldn't be pleasant.

The impact never came. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes. The frogs weren't there. Bewildered, Mary continued walking.

"That was just plain old weird."

“So a thief and a magical girl walk into a carnival,” Valentine said. “Remind me before the end of this to make a joke out of that sentence, okay?”

Polly laughed again for what she thought was the hundredth time. Despite the circumstances, she had never felt this good in a long time. It was was a trick she was playing on herself. Her internal monologue demanded that she focus on the matters at hand, be it joking with a spunky criminal or watching a exorcist at work. Polly found herself in a good place right now. It was only a matter of keeping herself there.

“Will do,” Polly said.

The two women were closing in on Mary. For a moment, she had stopped to stare at the sky, before clutching her umbrella and shutting her eyes. After a moment, Mary’s body relaxed, and she began to walk again. Polly stopped where Mary once stood and looked up at the sky. She didn’t see anything.

“Huh,” she said. “That was really strange.”

“We should probably catch up to her,” Valentine said.

Valentine and Polly picked up their pace, before Polly finally decided to call out to the carnival’s owner.

“Hey, Mary! Is everything okay?”

Mary heard Valentine and Polly in the distance, and turned towards them. They were right next to each other. She couldn't exactly tell which was was on which side, due to the rain.

"Maybe I'll go with them." she thought.

She rubbed her head with her free hand and said, "Everything's all right. There was a ghost passing by, and some falling frogs, but at least nothing tried to kill me in the last ten minutes."

She started walking towards them, "Do you want to go with me? I'm going to go to the house of mirrors next." Mirrors might attract spirits, but maybe it was a good place to hide the source of all of the weirdness.

“Yes, we are here to help you,” Polly said. “Where are we headed?”

As the threesome fell into step with each other, Polly thought about Mary’s answer. Ghosts? Falling frogs? Polly was sure that she hadn’t seen anything, but her vision was obscured due to the rain and forever gathering clouds.

Nevertheless, her anxiety about Mary and her home never wavered. Mary told Polly that she did know anything about the supernatural phenomena that surrounded her home. But something didn’t feel right; she was sure of it.

She studied Mary’s profile as they walked. Her face was stern with a slight trace of worry, but Polly did not find a devious look. Maybe she didn’t have any ulterior motives, but Mary must have been holding something back. She wasn’t going to ask—there was no reason to cause any conflict—but she wasn’t going to let her defenses down either.

edited 26th Apr '11 8:43:03 PM by BetsyandtheFiveAvengers

Jack put his hands in the pockets of his wool overcoat and whistled idly as he strolled through town in the cool night air.

As he passed by, he noticed the eerie, silhouetted structures of stands and rides past a high chain-link fence. Hmm, an abandoned carnival? he thought, he didn't remember there one being here.

He realized, he'd never been in a carnival before, and didn't really know much about them aside from the little he'd heard about them on audiobooks and TV. Not knowing when he would get another opportunity to enter a carnival, should he vault the fence now, while it's still dark and no one's likely to see him?

Jack wiped his hands against each other, tightened up his overcoat, and scaled the fence with expertise, careful not to snag his fine clothes. He vaulted the top, descended, dropped down and landed on the otherside.

Now, where to next? He grinned at the dripping abandoned tents before him, his heart throbbing with childish excitement.

{{OOC: Will put a description of Jack in the chat thread. Please go see.}}

edited 26th Apr '11 9:17:04 PM by annebeeche

After a minute of walking through the rain, Mary reached the house of mirrors.

The House of Mirrors was a one-story building with concrete walls and a roof with shillings. Broken mirrors were attach to the walls, some of them cracked, while others were missing a nail. The shillings were falling off the roof, and a big patch was hammered into it. A sign used to have taken the place above the entrance way, but it was long gone, leaving a light spot. The entance-way had a foldable white gate. Like all of the attractions, it didn't survive thirteen years intact.

Mary dugged into one of the pockets on the side of her backpack and fumbled for her keys. There was a worried expression on her face. She had no idea what could be inside. As far as she know, there might be a group of spirits waiting to ambush them. But she still had to look. There wasn't one place that she could find the source, but she had no choice but check each building one-by-one.

She took out her keys and walked towads the gate. With one palm on the gate, she used some force to turn the key. When it was unlocked, the gate opened, unfolding slightly. She then pushed it all the way to the side, and turned towards Valentine and Polly.

"Do you want me to go in first?" she said.