Character Halloween

[Outside ~ Forest](Oswald, Krajn)

Oswald spun around just the same, turning his head this way and that, eyes bright and alert. He brought a hand towards his chest, as though he were reaching for something, but as the danger seemed to pass, and as his fingers were met with nothing but the fabric of his shirt, he merely clenched his hand into a fist, then folded his arms once more. His tail remained slightly raised, looking almost like a blind sentinel behind his head.

"Indeed... I... I think at times, it's best that we're left to wonder," he answered, a second or so later. "That is, rather than be greeted with an answer darker than we had expected." He let himself breath normally once more, and turned back around to face the expanse of the forest ahead. Though little had changed, it somehow seemed darker and blurrier than it had moments before.

"Personally, I don't know if having the answer to the 'why' of this place would bring me the same sort of comfort as having the answer to the 'why' of my being here, or your being here. But, ah... but I suppose that's just how I tend to view the big picture, in light of my... small position in it, hmmn?"

edited 10th Mar '16 11:12:58 AM by Ryuhza

[Forest (Oswald, Krajn)]

Krajn kept her fighting sticks raised as she edged closer to Oswald. She wasn't scared, certainly. Though it had been a surprising amount of fun to get into the spirit of the Halloween thing, human holidays and superstitions weren't frightening to her. She'd nearly died more than once recently - surely that ought to be rather more worrisome than some noises in the night.

Of course, the noises had been real. She didn't believe in ghosts or werewolves or whatever, but she did believe in large predators. And anyway, as a Qvn Jxilkr it was her duty to keep Oswald safe, yes? (Though a part of her had noticed his reaching toward his shirt, as if to pull out a weapon; that was worth remembering in the future).

"The big picture is always made up of small people," she told Oswald, turning away from the woods to look at him, it was hard to see anything without her visual enhancements by now. "Qrlil said that. At least, I think she did. Actually probably quite a lot of people have said something like that..."

She blinked rapidly. "Er. The point is that I don't believe you should - how to say this - sell yourself short. I mean, if it's simply a matter of personal preference I shouldn't think to tell you what to do, but don't feel you're too small to think about large things."

There was a loud SNAP from in front of her and she craned her neck, peering past Oswald. She definitely wasn't scared, but she had been startled. But nothing seemed visible, so she returned her gaze to the shadowy blur that was his face."Anyway, I think it might be best if we continued this conversation indoors. The dark forest does not frighten me, but it might be wise not to take chances with it, yes?"

edited 14th Dec '14 11:42:22 PM by nrjxll

[Outside ~ Forest](Oswald, Krajn)

"You must understand, it's not simply a matter of myself being a single person in a large world." Oswald said, pressing his fingers against his chest. "It's not even a matter of how much influence I have, although that itself is miniscule and near invisible to the naked eye. Even if I did have a soap box to stand on, I couldn't. There's a lot of hostility; a lot of suspicion and paranoia. Rumors and rumblings, these- these beliefs that the world is in some sort of state of upheaval. It's not like here," he waved a hand off in the direction that they had come from, "and perhaps it's unlike your world as well. It can be risky just-"

The snap caught him in mid-sentence.

"...just to- ...hmm." He turned his head slightly, then turned all the way around once more, nearly smacking Krajn with the side of his tail in the process. His eyes flitted left and right as they scanned the darkness ahead as quickly as possible. He raised his hands in front of him as though he were rearing to deflect a lunging beast, or maybe just a dodgeball. His breathing once again slowed to a standstill.

A few seconds of silence later, he eased up, although not to the same degree as before. With wary eyes and a slight shiver in his breath, he said, "Well I ah... I do know a few techniques that are meant to discourage wild animals from getting too close, but if by chance we run into something that isn't just an ordinary... wild animal." his breathing shook slightly, in what might have been nervous laughter. "I think I left my silver bullets and holy water in the pocket of last year's costume. Yes, perhaps it's best that we head back now."

edited 15th Dec '14 3:29:37 PM by Ryuhza

[Ballroom (Rachel, Harry, Priss)]

"Yeah, pointing a laser at somebody is not exactly a good way to introduce yourself. Still, I didn't think I was in any danger, if only because I had done nothing to warrant such a response. Besides, I can handle myself."

Rachel turned to Priss' companion. "So, what brought you here? Adventure, curiosity, or something else?"

[Forest -> Path (Oswald, Krajn)]

"Really, Oswald?" Krajn said. It was underlain with a slightly shaky hiss. "Believing in werewolves, or whatever that refers to? How silly of you."

She kept her head darting back and forth, birdlike, to see if she could see anything moving in the trees. But her eye enhancements weren't meant to detect anything outside of the visual light spectrum, just enhance what was already there, and it was so dark at this point that there wasn't much light to enhance.

"I'm certain it's just some kind of an animal. Maybe several animals. But from what I know of Earth's predators, they wouldn't attack two alert, adult bipeds like us."

She turned her back on the direction the snap had come from, and set out in the direction of the path at a very deliberate pace. She would not look afraid, not in front of Oswald, not of... not of things that went bump in the night. Besides, isn't showing fear supposed to encourage predators? I wish I knew more about that sort of thing; that's what growing up an orbital does for you.

Only once they had made it out of the forest and into the clear space leading up to the castle did she turn and look around. Nothing moved in the trees. "Well!" she said loudly. "That was certainly exciting, wasn't it?"

[Ballroom (Priss, Harry, Rachel)]

Harry gave the girl a slightly questioning glance. I can handle myself? Dude, you look like you've barely even started to handle puberty.

...Actually, I'd rather face laser hands than puberty.

Grinning slightly at his - admittedly fairly unimaginative - private joke, he held out his hand. "Harry Carter, with FII," he said, "not that I'm here in any sort of investigative capacity. I'm here for the party, mostly. You do know about the party, right?" he added, gesturing around at the directions, from the lights to the sound system Priss was screwing with. "Gnarly decor, even if it's a bit over-the-top. Technically I was invited with someone else, but I dunno what exactly happened to her..."

Meanwhile, the worker turned and raised an eyebrow at Priss fiddling with the sound gear, but didn't actually say anything. He returned to stringing up more lights along the walls.

[Outside ~ Forest —> Path](Oswald, Krajn)

Oswald slowly lowered his defense, answering, "I didn't yesterday, and I won't tomorrow, but on this day and in this place, I'm not sure it would be such a wise idea to put myself past believing anything." he brushed himself off out of habit, then, after briefly checking the leafy underbrush, set off walking alongside Krajn. "Silly or not. By logical reasoning, you're right, it probably is just a wild animal. Although even then, they aren't always predictable. A wild wolf that is desperate for food might be more prone to attacking us than a fed one. Same thing with a grizzly bear, and in either case it's hard to know just how hungry the animal is until it has come dangerously close."

By that point, they had broken well out of the woods. At Krajn's question, Oswald nodded enthusiastically, perhaps moreso than was genuine. "Oh yes yes yes. My heart is a-pounding in my chest." He paused, tipping his head to the side and raising his eyes in consideration. "Still, if we had been cornered by a wild beast of a terrible size matched only by it's hunger, it may hearten you to know that some pairs of hikers have been able to dissuade such animals from attacking by riding piggyback one on the other's shoulders. It's..." he turned his head away, rubbing the side of his face in a fruitless attempt to cover the barely suppressed smile that grew there, "It's to... to make them seem bigger, you see."

[Ballroom]

"Are you sure that's...wise?" Priss raised an eyebrow. "I mean, we've only seen the place look creepy, but still..." She paused. "Unless your companion was the space alien, in which case I guess she might have different standards of creepy because things that we find threatening aren't threatening to her."

She ceased fiddling with the sound system and nodded to herself, having adjusted the settings and fiddled with a number of plugs. "There. I swear sometimes people don't even read the directions before they start messing with things."

[Path (Oswald, Krajn)]

Krajn blinked, not quite certain what to make of that. From Oswald's expression, she guessed it was probably intended as humorous, so she let out a soft hiss.

She gave the forest another leery glance, but even if whatever had been making the noise had followed them, it didn't seem to be inclined to come out into the moonlight. So certainly not werewolves. I think?

"I believe I've had enough outdoor adventures for one night," she said. "There is still an entire castle to explore, after all." And a party to attend, if I feel like it. I suppose if nothing else I should get some food at some point. Deciding she'd consider a more specific destination, she set off in the direction of the castle. "Come along, Oswald," she called back over her shoulder. "You wouldn't wish to be left out for the horrible forest carnivore, would you?"

[Ballroom (Priss, Harry, Rachel)]

Harry blinked. Hadn't he already talked some with Priss about Krajn? "Yeah, she's the space alien," he said, "and she can probably take care of herself a lot better then I can. Though probably not quite as much as she thinks she can." He sighed and shook his head. "Anyway, though, creepiness is kind of the point for a Halloween party, isn't it? I wouldn't worry about it, and believe me, after the last couple of months I've had, if I'm not worrying, that's probably a pretty groovy sign."

Feeling a bit tired of standing around, he turned in the direction of the dining hall, thinking about getting some drinks or something like that. But first, he had to ask: "Hey, what's it you're doing with that sound thingy anyway?"

[Parlor (Kaguya, Inzami)]

"I'm glad to hear there aren't any ill feelings," Inzami said, "and if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine with me."

"And as far as a party? I don't really see one happening," Inzami said, "there are some people searching for mysteries in the West Wing, but I don't think what they found was exactly pleasant. There were a couple people exploring the forest, although I think they're coming back. And there are others setting up decorations and talking in the Ballroom and Dining Hall, but it doesn't look like anything has really started."

"I'm perfectly happy keeping you company - we can talk about whatever you would like," she said, "of course, if you don't want to talk - that's fine too and I'll hang up. I don't want to be a bother."

The intention was that Kaguya can talk to Inzami in a conversation, if she wants to. It wasn't really intended as just a drive-by unless Kaguya doesn't want to talk.

Also, sorry this took so long, but ended up completely swamped this weekend.

[Outside ~ Path](Oswald, Krajn)

"No, of course not." Oswald said, giving a light, deflating sigh. "I'm saving myself for the family of crusty old vampires that the castle undoubtedly houses."

He jogged a little ways to catch up with Krajn, then, walking alongside her, continued, "Actually, now that I consider it, I'll bet there's a good chance that the one who put this entire event together, and presumably has some ownership over this castle, is a little long in the tooth themselves. Ah... not that I'm one to talk," he added, briefly flashing his own set of slightly pointed incisors and lengthy canines with a grin. "Even so, I'd keep an eye out for covered mirrors and the like."

[Path - Outside Castle Entrance (Oswald, Krajn)]

Krajn hmmed slightly absently in response. Every little noise still set her scales itching, and she kept glancing about - whenever Oswald wasn't looking, that is - to see if anything was moving in the shadows. She wished she'd thought to bring her nanocams. Periodically she sniffed at the air, but there were no unfamiliar scents, just hers and Oswald's.

Nothing leaped out to attack them as they scaled the path, and the only thing that made any noise was the distant - if slowly growing louder - sounds of the storm. As they approached the castle gates, she felt ready to search for a new topic to talk about.

"Tell me about your world, Oswald," she said, then paused, feeling slightly awkward at the way it had sounded like an abrupt conversational shift. "I-I mean, you have not said much about it, and I'm curious what it must be like, living in a world that has no certain knowledge of any other types of intelligent life. Or space travel!"

[Outside ~ Path —> Castle Exterior](Oswald, Krajn)

"Well, we did land on the moon once. Our- ...Earth's moon, that is." Oswald said, shooting a curious glance in Krajn's direction. He turned his head away and sighed again. "But that was the better part of a century ago. And as I understand it, that project's prominence was more or less a product of the time."

He paused for a few moments, raising his head, his eyes, to the castle, and above, to the dark night's sky, slowly clouding over. "I haven't really thought about it. Or rather, I haven't thought about my world from the perspective of an outsider. Although sometimes I feel that way myself," he added with a pained smile. "I suppose I can't wheedle out of giving you a proper answer by saying we're a very down to Earth people? That is to say, most people I've met don't shed a lot of concern for problems that grow beyond the homestead, whether that homestead is a house, a small town, a state, province, country..." he let his hand spiral up and away with the rest of his list. "I suppose that may be where a lot of my own mindset comes from, although I did wonder a lot more about the whole state of the world and everything in it when I was younger, and less..."

He shot an almost apprehensive glance at Krajn as his words drifted off, leaving him silent, seemingly in no hurry to finish his sentence.

edited 10th Mar '16 11:29:10 AM by Ryuhza

(Ballroom-Harry, Priss, Rachel)

"Yeah, this place is pretty dull without some music." Rachel turned to the girl in power armor. She shouldn't be setting up the sound system alone. "Need me to run cables or something? I've got portal powers, so that would probably be where I could help. Time travel too, but I can't see a need for that right now."

Rachel perked up at the mention of aliens. "Wait, you know an alien? I've always wanted to meet one and just sit and chat. I guess the eldritch abominations I've fought count, but we didn't do much talking. Just a lot of slashing and tentacle grabbing."

edited 17th Dec '14 5:47:42 PM by daird

[Path - Outside Castle Entrance (Oswald, Krajn)]

Krajn tilted her head and stared at Oswald thoughtfully, and with no small amount of irritation. He seemed evasive, again. Why couldn't people be more straightforward about these things? Especially humans; their subconsciouses seemed so snarled up that it was hard to understand how even they knew what they were thinking, far less anyone else.

She ran back some of the things he'd said earlier in her mind. I wonder, did something... happen in his version of Earth? Some sort of disaster which regressed civilization? The thought had occurred to her on more than one occasion in the past, and she almost - almost - spoke it out loud. But she hesitated; if she was right, asking might disrupt the tentative interpersonal rapport the two of them had managed to develop. She didn't want that, especially under the current circumstances.

A phantom violet scent briefly touched the inside of her mouth, and she looked around nervously, but there was nothing there. Realizing she'd been silent for several minutes, she indicated the door and spoke "So, before we head back in to the party, I'm curious: what exactly brought you here anyway, Oswald?"

[Outside ~ Castle Exterior]

Oswald was quick in turning his head back away after briefly meeting Krajn's frustrated gaze. He crossed his arms, remaining silent until they reached the door and Krajn spoke.

"Oh, myself?" He smiled slightly, perhaps relieved that she wasn't pushing him to elaborate on his somewhat vague answers to her last question. "It's a rather simple story. I'm in between towns at the moment, and the boarding house—well, it's not so much a whole boarding house as it is a regular old house with two rooms to let out to short term boarders such as myself. Anyway, the other boarder told me about this..." he waved his hand at the door as he rummaged through his brain for the most appropriate description, "this festive occasion. He made it out to be a rare, once in a blue moon kind of local event, and told me that I'd regret missing it. It was very odd too, because I had walked past this man a good handful of times before then, and he had never sent so much as a word my way."

He shook his head, brow furrowed. "Well, earlier today, I was out scouting for the trail-head that's going to lead me to my next destination, and on the way back, I found the trail that the other boarder told me to follow. I decided to do a bit of investigating, and ended up at the foot of a large castle surrounded by rather unfamiliar scenery. That's when the true nature of this place began to dawn on me."

Oswald glanced at the door, then at Krajn. "For all his talk, I'm half expecting to find that other boarder somewhere inside. I don't even know his name, you know, though I wonder if the reverse is the same."

[Castle Exterior -> Entrance Hall (Oswald, Krajn]

"Hrrm," Krajn said, tipping her head. "That sounds... rather suspicious, actually. We - er, Harry and I - just received some mail." It had actually been very unusual mail, but she wasn't certain how much she wanted to elaborate about that. Though I suspect Harry has probably had no such compunctions, so really, why worry?

"Still," she continued, "I am certain you will be safe with me." She flicker-blinked one of her inner eyelids in an attempt at a human-style wink, and pulled open the castle door. While the room remained well-lit - at least as much as it ever had been, at least - it was empty. She was somewhat surprised - these social things often seemed to have a tendency towards inertia. Clearly either the party had moved further indoors or horrible phantasms had emerged from the walls and devoured everyone.

Probably the first one, but one never knows under these circumstances.

Stepping inside, she turned back to Oswald. "Well, shall we go search for what has become of our fellow guests? Or explore another part of the castle?" Her voice sounded slightly more enthusiastic about the latter, but in truth she wasn't going to make an issue of it if he chose the former.

I want to give the other areas a chance to progress, so I'll be slow to post as Krajn again until they do.

[Ballroom]

"Well, I've either improved sound quality greatly...or every song that comes on will sound like it's by The Chipmunks." Pris smirked. "Honestly, since I'm okay with either outcome you can't really know until it starts playing, can you?" She was probably lying; Priss was an exceptionally bad liar if you could see her face.

She peered at the sound gear again. "Practically an antique. Not a single standardized plug on it."

[Ballroom (Priss, Harry, Rachel)]

Harry boggled at Rachel. "Did you - did you just say time travel?"

Everything else - the stuff she was saying about meeting aliens, Priss's explanation of how and/or why she was messing with the sound system - just sort of washed over him, only distantly heard. This girl had time travel abilities, and all she was thinking about doing with them was helping set up for a Halloween party? He shook his head a couple of times, trying to clear it.

"That's... whoa. Just whoa."

Eventually, he snapped out of it enough to go back and think over what else had been said. "Uh, yeah, I-I know aliens. There's lots of them where I come from." How the hell can you travel through time and not know about aliens? "Suppose I could introduce you two whenever she shows up again." If nothing else, it'd be a way to keep Krajn out of his currently-spiky hair for the evening.

He glanced over at Priss. "Uh, who are The Chipmunks, anyway?"

[Ballroom]

"Apparently, a justly forgotten part of your musical history." Priss replied, both amused and approving. "You get a bunch of guys to sing the vocal component of a track very slowly and drawn out, then speed up the vocals to normal speed and combine it with the music. This results in the vocals being high-pitched and squeaky, exactly how you'd expect a singing rodent to sound."

She paused. "...I've just given you the means to bring them back, I suppose. Please don't do that. I couldn't stand that being my legacy to music, anyone's music."

"Yeah. I-I'm..." Oh, screw it! It's not like I'm ever going to see him again.

Rachel checked around her to make sure there were no breakable objects. The transformation process released a very large amount of energy in a very short amount of time. She made a fist with her right hand, raised it to the sky, and said, "Dragonclaw, grasp my heart!"

There was a massive flash of light from her ring, and when it ended, Rachel now stood in a costume that consisted of a white shirt with a purple talon emblem. She wore a long skirt, a cape, and a Carnival mask, all in the same purple shade. The outfit was topped off by a pair of purple gloves with wicked-looking wrist blades.

"The blades are so sharp they can cut the space-time fabric. Basically, I can create a portal to anywhere within a mile of here, or time travel up to an hour in either direction. I don't have any other powers, but I'm part of a team, so that helps."

[Ballroom (Priss, Harry, Rachel)]

Harry stared, The Chipmunks forgotten, as Rachel... costumed. He looked away, but when he looked back, she remained as stubbornly transformed as she had been before. His mouth opened and shut like a fish's several times before he managed to finally speak:

"What."

He slumped heavily into an armchair, head in hands. Okay, on the list of crazy shit I expected to see tonight - and man, what does it say that I had a list of crazy shit I expected to see tonight - a transformer superhero was not one of them. An involuntary chuckle forced its way past his lips. I'm surrounded by superheroes. Radical.

After a moment, he looked up. "Yeah, you know how your reality doesn't have space aliens? Mine doesn't have... that." A self-deprecatory grin. "I mean, if you couldn't tell that already."

edited 18th Dec '14 6:47:56 PM by nrjxll

[Outside ~ Castle Exterior —> Castle ~ Entrance Hall](Oswald, Krajn)

In response to her little remark about his safety, Oswald offered Krajn a smile that was at once both genuine and somewhat smarmy, his animalistic visage reading all the basic cues with a slight bit of knowingness and, perhaps, sarcasm, in his narrowed eyes. In the same vein, he said, "Oh yes, I'm sure I will."

After stepping inside and giving the entry hall a cursory glance, he sniffed once and answered, "I do feel as though it should be in our greatest interests to wonder after and check upon the well-beings of our fellow guests, but, at the same time, I worry that doing so will lead us to the end of our own solitary little venture." he tilted his head, turning it towards the doors leading further inward. "Though, I must wonder, what of the castle do you wish to explore, if not the inner quarters?"

[Entrance Hall (Oswald, Krajn)]

Krajn returned Oswald's smile, though her expression was slightly confused. She couldn't quite read his facial features well enough to know what he was thinking, but he didn't seem to be quite speaking at face value.

As he continued, she dismissed it with a head-shake, and glanced briefly around the entrance hall before returning her attention to him. "It's quite a large castle," she said, nodding at the various doors in quick succession. "There are towers, and dungeons, and... other castle things." She lifted her head. "In truth, I am not particularly familiar with castles. They're not a very qrtxian thing." Then, switching from embarrassment to excitement: "Which is precisely why we should take the opportunity to explore this one now!"

Oswald and Krajn had made their way indoors in the nick of time. The clouds had now advanced nearly to the edge of the castle, blocking out the brilliant moon and the stars. Lightning flickered periodically, followed swiftly by thunder, but there was as of yet no rain.

Meanwhile, the time grew ever closer to midnight. Inside the castle, the strangeness of this Halloween night began to slowly grow more pronounced...

• Current Time: Late Evening (10:00 PM)
• Current Weather: Cloudy

[Ballroom]

Priss eyed the whole transformation thing rather critically. "A magical girl?" She lived in Tokyo; of course she knew what a magical girl was, even if it was the late 2030s. Her tone implied the "oh, great" she didn't actually say, perhaps despite her better judgement.

If Priss had a "better judgement", which was a point a lot of people would be inclined to probably argue about. She didn't comment on what the blades could do; her only physics interests where of the basic applied variety. "Hey, if you can cut space-time, which I'm not even sure is possible, what can't you cut?" Priss could think of one thing it probably couldn't cut, but White's blades were cheating with their laser edge anyways.

(Ballroom)

"A few things. Tank armor is tough, but doable. I've run into a couple of monsters that were highly cut-resistant. Thankfully, one of my friends proved that there is nothing immune to blunt-force trauma. Granted, we haven't faced their king yet, but I'm hopeful that will hold up."