Spidophile
In The City After a Long Day of Doing Nothing
"Well, Hobbes old buddy. If we're gonna be stuck here for the foreseeable future, I'd prefer the days to be more like this and not yesterday." Calvin said, as he gazed up at the sky, laying on his back on his wagon. The six year old had been content to spend the whole day riding around in his wagon, pelting the odd bystander with water balloons, and look at others performing stunts and competitions. Hobbes nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
"I'll say. Still, maybe tomorrow we could help the others fulfill some of the days' challenges we've been hearing about. If we help, we might get out of here faster. Or at the very least, we might be able to get some of these people on our side. Not everybody was too pleased with the stunts I pulled yesterday. And you're...you." Hobbes pointed out. Calvin sat up in indignation.
"And just what is that supposed to mean!"
"Nothing. You're a real peach to get along with." Hobbes rolled his eyes. Calvin beamed a water balloon at his head and the tiger pounced on the child, knocking him off the wagon, growling loudly in his face as he pinned Calvin to the ground.
"URF-get off me ya great galoot! Fine-ARG-we'll do things your way and see about helping everybody. Maybe get some weapons too."
"I have a feeling we'll need all the help we can get." Hobbes agreed as he got off and let Calvin get back on the wagon.
"You're an enemy of art and I pity your ignorance" - Domingo Montoya Help save the rainforest for free simply by going to Ecosia.org.
Ciri - Prison
"Ciri," Ciri said to Rex. "Yours?""You seem to have a handle on how things function in this city," she continued. "Is it all learned from experience, or were you told by someone? Does this library you mentioned contain tomes detailing the history of this city?"
feeling blue
Looks like the books were gonna need to wait until later. Tairee gave Caro some cds that she could use on the laptop she just gave him though, so from it looks of it movie night would be something they would be doing soon enough.
They all left after Tairee told them she was gonna leave and let the freaky thing go out, Caro in particular was in a rush out which he couldn't fully blame her for, Sans himself just kept walking at maybe a slightly faster pace than usual to keep up with her.
While looking around in the streets, Sans spotted a few houses and decided to start looking for an empty one. One of them seemed to be the one he had found before the librarian's announcement that made everything go crazy.
"let's see here..." he said as he went over to the house, trying to draw attention to what he was doing. He tried opening the door and, as expected, it was open and the inside was devoid of anyone living there. "yep, this one's good, c'mon guys."
He then headed inside and almost immediately went towards the bedroom. Luckily for them there seemed to be enough beds around for everyone, so that was one potential issue avoided. Sans then jumped onto his bed and very apparently relaxed once he was lying down on it.
"yup, it's pretty comfortable here," he said, letting out a yawn.
someone
Eve|Cottage| A Serious Conversation
Eve woke with a start, sitting bolt upright. It was still dark, and clearly late. The blanket was warm, but the fire seemed to be out. And she had been really, really comfy. She, carefully, so not to wake Ben up, distangled herself from the fluffy blanket, and went to the dead fire. Maybe there were some matches in the kitchen.
Calling upon all of her stealth, Eve moved close to silently into the kitchen, before looking in some drawers for some-
Would You Like Some Toast?
"No thank you"
I Can Also Do Waffles. Or Bagels. Or Poptarts. Or Flapjacks. Ham And Cheese Sandwich?
"Don't you have anything to do other than toast? Don't you sleep?"
Toasting Is My Reason For Existing. It Is The Reason I Was Made. And I Must Be Ready To Toast At Any Time. Speaking Of, Would You Like Some Late Night Toast?
"Do you know where the matches are?"
Third Drawer Down, On The Left. Would You Like Some Toast?
Rummaging through the directed drawer, Eve pulled out the matches.
"Thank for your help."
You're Welcome. I Live To Help. Would You Like Some Toast?
Eve, somewhat hungry at all this talk of toast, rummaged in the fridge and freezer, pulling out a carton of chocolate caramel ice cream.
Would You Like Some Toast?
"Have you ever considered finding a different reason for existing?"
No. Would You Like Some Toast?
"Okay. What kind of toasted good would go with ice-cream?"
I Would Suggest A Waffle, Or Maybe A Poptart. There Should Be Poptarts In The Pantry.
"How do you know where they are?"
I Can Sense Any Possible Toasted Good In The Area.
"How did you know where the matches were?"
Toasted Matches Are A Staple Of The Diet Of The People Of The Planet Rashykif 4.
"The things you learn."
Looking in the pantry, Eve found a packet emblazoned with the word Poptart, and pulling it out, found out they were chocolate flavour. After reading the instructions, she pulled out one and put it into the toaster. The toaster was unchararistically silent, focused entirely on toasting. While the poptart was being cooked, Eve (dispensing with the idea of using a bowl), simply grabbed a spoon, and began to eat the ice cream.
Your Toast Is Ready! Thank You For Using This Toast Making Service.
Eve pulled out the poptart, grabbing a plate on the way to the toaster.
"Have you really never considered finding a different reason for existing? "
No. Enjoy Your Toast.
"Okay."
Grabbing the matches, her poptart and ice cream, Eve left the kitchen. Before returning to the couch, she lit the fire back up, and grabbed her book from the end table.
Eve read and ate to the flickering firelight in the peaceful cottage. In time, she finished her book, and her ice cream/poptart combo, and, quietly putting them aside, tucked herself back under the blanket. There, she fell asleep, ready for the new day.
[TOP SECRET]
Hotel ~ What the Future Holds
The next major event in the story involved Nanoha finding the wounded ferret in the woods and effectively adopting him. From there, the blob creature from the introduction reappeared and attacked, forcing the ferret to grant Nanoha a Device he called "Raising Heart." Then Nanoha used her newfound powers to seal the beast, which turned out to be a Lost Logia after all. Then the ferret introduced himself as Yuuno Scrya. From there, he went on to explain the Lost Logia, which he called the Jewel Seeds. He and Nanoha had a few more adventures.
As she read through this, Fate found herself getting impressed with Nanoha's skill. For someone who had literally just been made a mage, she was gaining mastery of her skills very quickly. Fate couldn't even remember how long it took for her to get the hang of her abilities.
She kept reading, reaching a point where she saw herself and Arf looking over Uminari City, with her print self musing over the Lost Logia. The moment as it was depicted was just how she remembered it being, although it really didn't depict how out of place she felt then.
From there, it cut to Nanoha visiting the mansion of one of her friends and generally having a good time. Then they found another one of the Jewel Seeds, which was activated by a kitten and made it grow to tremendous size. Now things were starting to look a little familiar. Sure enough, her print self appeared soon afterwards, easily defeated Nanoha, and claimed the Jewel Seed. Now that she was experiencing it all over again in a fashion, a part of her wondered if she should have made sure the kitten was going to be all right before she left. Fortunately Nanoha was right there to see to its safety.
Her print self gave Nanoha a long look before leaving. Having read this far, Fate was starting to get a sense of just what about Nanoha captured her attention so much.
From there, Nanoha and Yuuno finished their visit and then discussed the day's events a little more. The section ended on a very familiar scene of Fate and Arf in their apartment, with her print self musing on her motivations. She had every reason to recognize it; that was last night, before they woke up here. Had it really been that short a time? With everything that had happened since then, it sure felt longer.
She was about to turn the page before two thoughts occurred to her. The first thought: she'd claimed a Jewel Seed. Did she still have it here? On that thought, she took Bardiche, changed him to his Device Form, and checked. Nothing; it must have gotten lost when they were brought here. She frowned worriedly; what had happened to it? Would they be able to reclaim it? She sighed before returning Bardiche to his Standby Mode. As long as they were trapped here, it really didn't matter what became of the Jewel Seeds. Having lost the contest, there was no way for her to collect them here.
That lead into her next thought: Everything from here on out would show her the future. The last scene she read was the last time she and Arf were still in Uminari City, and indeed their world. What kind of future would she be reading about? One that concerned her directly? Or one where she wasn't relevant to her world anymore? The only way to find out was to keep reading, and she proceeded to do just that.
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
Dark Sun, what choices have I...?
"Oh. I guess you have a point. Shame, I was thinking the more the merrier."
The librarian quickly handled some requests, and then shooed us off as she released Ghostfun in the corner. Yep. He still seemed bitter. Hopefully Ben and co. would be ready for him. I decided I'd check on them again in the morning, seeing as I'd already agreed to talk to Ben anyway.
Sans, Caro, and Lucas, taking the hint, hurried out. I looked at Plague Knight, then at his hornet, and then rushed over to said hornet. "The librarian's right. We should probably go now, if you have everything you need. Your hornet child's over here."
Hmm...
I supposed I could just grab the hornet and go, but I didn't know anything about handling insects the size of a child's torso. It seemed fine when Wander had handled it yesterday, but considering Wander disappeared to who knows where twice with them I was taking everything he did involving Plague Knight's kids with a grain of salt. Instead I just stared at it, intrigued by its existence.
It was kinda cute, too.
"Hey, since you just got a phone..." I added, "...you think you might want my number?"
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guess
THE SLORG!
Alas, the Fanboys didn't really have anything more than just sleeping bags and pillows ready to go; directly on the carpeted floor it would have to be, but at least the temperature in the cinema seemed alright. One of the benefits of a magical city that doesn't need money to operate was that the electricity never had to be shut off to save on the bill; the flip side was that they couldn't lock the doors or turn off the lights, but at least setting up in the theaters helped with that second problem. To make the theater lights actually dim, and so that some troll couldn't come up while they were sleeping and put on a loud movie, Melanie found a several hours long nature documentary narrated by someone who was probably that universe's David Attenborough.
One slight issue was that Silanea was... Big. Granted she only stood less than six feet tall, but that was with a lot of her tail trailing on the floor; figuring out how to get all eleven feet of her to work with human-sized sleeping bags was an issue that didn't seem to have any good answers, until finally Chuck and Calvin just laid two sleeping bags side by side and let her curl up on top of them, then fully unzipped a third sleeping bag and tossed it over as an improvised blanket. Chuck and Calvin had to do this, as the entire time Silanea had not stopped hugging Connor and sobbing. Connor himself made do by getting into one of the two sleeping bags Silanea was curled up on top of and let her keep hugging his shoulders until they drifted off to sleep.
The hours ticked by. The sky outside started to turn orange with the impending dawn. But before it could be considered bright, everything blurred and stopped...
Being an early riser, Louie was actually awake just before the transition hit, walking out into the living room while gently whistling to himself. "Any of you sleepy heads aw-" Louie started to say, but then the world blurred and stopped.
When Miss Tairee appeared, she was surprised to see someone else there. Well, other people may have looked at what appeared to be a collection of server racks and screens and call it a something, but Miss Tairee would've told them not to be insensitive and closed-minded.
"Tester? I didn't expect to see you here" Miss Tairee said in a friendly tone.
"i was sent to monitor and relay the competition outcome" The bunch of computer responded with a synthetic, generic-adult-Male sort of voice. "results unexpected: such a drastic change to a timeline of one of our worlds was not anticipated" Tester continued.
Miss Tairee blinked a couple times. "Is that going to be a problem?" Miss Tairee asked him.
"negative, it is not a problem. backup of original timeline has already been copied and restored. this new timeline now coexists as an alternative" Tester replied, then paused as several screens flashed with scrolling information. "... changes to bleeding effect already confirmed. new timeline is now a spinoff book of alternate continuity" the computer added.
Miss Tairee glanced away from Tester. "Well, if you consider that, the project has already succeeded in a sense, boss" Miss Tairee stated. Shortly, there was the audible sound of writing.
"You know I'm not looking to make a mere spinoff. And seeing the project through to the end could result in multiple ideas."
"Yes, yes, very well" Miss Tairee muttered with a slightly disappointed huff. She then looked back at Tester. "Tester, will you be staying?" she wondered.
"negative. i must return to my own assistant duties. however, before i go, i extend invitation for us to play more games the next time we are both unoccupied. perhaps a variation on monopoly, instead of snakes and ladders" Tester said to her.
"I would like that" Miss Tairee responded with a smile. "Farewell Tester" she added with a small wave of her hand.
"farewell until next time" Tester stated, then several of his screens flashed, and he vanished. Then Miss Tairee heard the sound of a pen scratching on paper, and a small note floated over for her to read.
"Now, the next day is already ready. I've taken the liberties of preparing modifications I've expected will be necessary."
"Ten of me at once with accelerated mental functions; sounds about right to me. I hope that will be enough" Miss Tairee thought out loud as she read the note, then she lowered her eyebrows. "... Boss, did the ears have to be real though?" she questioned, glancing up; after about ten seconds of no reply, she sighed, "right, I guess so. I suppose it's not as bad as that princess dress or not being able to talk. I am ready." Now there was the sound of writing responding.
"Then let us begin."
As the orange tinted sky brightened and the world resumed, gentle music started to fill the city. Once again everything seemed to have turned into a massive amusement park, however unlike two days ago, everything was functional and pleasant.
... And also holiday themed.
A red and green ferris wheel with fluffy, red hats that had white trimming on top of each car slowly turned, speakers emitting a Christmas song as snow seemed to drift down around it. Next to it, a black and orange roller coaster with comically shaped white skull head cars emitted some jaunty xylophone tune.
The random people of the city started to go out into the streets and take a look around. Some enthusiastic people quickly got onto rides, while others went around looking for breakfast, with some attention being drawn to the Universe Buffet, which was stocked with foods associated with holiday feasts. As it was also an amusement park, there was plenty of food stalls around mainly stocked with holiday-themed candies and such.
Many of the people seemed hopeful and quickly happy, besides a few who were apprehensive and feeling that this might be a trick.
But what a lot of people did was quickly head into the library to urgently see about getting their allotted message back home. Even just minutes after the day had started, the lobby was already starting to get a little crowded.
Attending to this crowd was ten of Miss Tairee, all identical. The base shape of her outfit was one of the tamer results one could expect to find when looking up 'sexy Mrs. Claus costume'. But rather than a blank red, the main parts of the outfit was varying shades of deep red in a random pattern of hearts. Instead of the white, fluffy trim, the trim was rows of little, green four leaf clovers. The buttons on the front were orange pumpkins with jack-o-lantern face patterns. And finally, poking out through two holes in the hat, were two tall, skinny, white colored rabbit ears.
"-ake yet?" Louie finished, then blinked a couple times and looked around. "... What's with the decorations?" the young trainer muttered, noting the Christmas decorations around the house that had not been there seconds ago.
Then he finally noticed the change to his own outfit, glancing down to see that he was wearing some sort of green tunic and matching cone hat; in other words, dressed up as one of Santa's elves. "What the heck! My clothes!" Louie complained.
Like previous break days, certain people would find that the closest electronic devices to them were attempting to display a simple message that they had replies awaiting them at the library; in some cases, this notification was sent directly to said person. These included Seiga, Plague Knight, Ellen, Garrett, Sans, Curly, Jack Frost, and Rex.
You are reading this.
feeling blue
Sans was sleeping on his bed, completely oblivious of everything that was going on, including the fact that his phone was buzzing with the notification given to him and also the fact that he currently had a pumpkin on his head
◊
Ciri - Prison
While she was talking to Rex, Ciri's clothes suddenly changed into something absurdly red, white, and black.
◊ Definitely not the right attire for traipsing through caves and across the countryside on the hunt. The surrounding area seemed to change into something else, but she couldn't quite guess the style.
"What in the hell?" she uttered.
I just want to help!
Cole found himself slowly blinking his eyes awake, taking a second to wake up, before stretching a bit and rubbing at his eyes, looking around. It took a second for him to remember what this place he was in was, what with the strange smells and the...
The walls of his room appeared to be covered in tiny, soft lights.
Cole sat up, tilting his head, studying the odd green vines running along the edges of doorways and along the tops of the walls, all of them with rather pretty, twinkling white lights. Along with those, there were what looked like paper cut-outs of various shapes...snowflakes, hearts, pumpkins, what might have been eggs, except in bizarre colors, and green shapes that reminded him of a child's drawing of trees, or perhaps flowers? There were other shapes that he didn't recognize, but it seemed as though the room had been decorated overnight.
Even the bed seemed different, with the white blanket of the night before having been replaced with one that was covered in images of what seemed to be thin dwarves, all in green, dancing around rainbows and big metal pots filled with what might have been coins. As well as the white gown he'd been given to sleep in, which was now green, with a red stripe around the waist with a picture of a bow, which brought to mind a gift box he'd seen Varric preparing for Hawke once some months back.
Not to mention, looking to the side, his stuffed rabbit still seemed normal enough, but it was now sitting in a brown wicker basket, with a handle made of metal that reminded him of the helmet of his hat, that was stuffed with tiny, brightly colored shapes of rabbits and eggs, nestled in...what was this stuff? It was green, the color of grass, but it crinkled and felt like those bags made of "plastic" that Sans had given to him-
Sans. Cole abruptly recalled the night before. It wasn't all very clear, for some reason...he felt like he'd fallen asleep very quickly somehow...but he could remember Sans talking on the radio, saying his name, and sounding strangely exuberant, especially for Sans.
He had to find out what had happened. For Sans to sound like that, something had to have gone terribly wrong somewhere.
Cole flipped back the blanket quickly, moving to get out of the bed on the side where his daggers were. He barely took a minute to realize his daggers now seemed unusually festive
◊, but dismissed that quickly. He needed to head out and find out what was going on with Sans...
...but what could he do about it?
Cole paused, standing where he was, just holding his weapons in either hand, staring at them. Really...what could he do? If the Writer had struck out at them, if he had done something to Sans...Cole couldn't do anything about that. It had been proven already, hadn't it? Everything he had tried to do to help his fellow captives had failed. Catastrophically, in some cases. He'd hurt far more people than he'd helped, by mistake or by...
Cole slowly moved to sit back down on the edge of the bed, lowering his daggers to rest them in his lap, looking down at the floor. That was why he was here, wasn't it? He was seeking somewhere to hide yesterday, somewhere to get away from what he'd started. Whatever he'd said to Ben had caused that explosion of hurts from the whole city. It was a mess...it was all a mess.
He looked down at his amulet. It still seemed to be working, as he couldn't hear anything out there. For a second he considered removing it again, trying to see how things were, but quickly shoved that thought away. That feeling yesterday...it had been indescribable. He couldn't...he couldn't do that again. It hurt too much, too loud, it was...it was more than he could take.
Cole just dropped his daggers, letting them clatter a little loudly on the tile floor, shifting backwards a bit to sit more fully on the bed, rocking himself slowly as he did so.
Hotel ~ Night of the Fourteenth Day - Many Unpleasant Revelations Remain
The next segment detailed a trip Nanoha, her family, and her friends took to a hot spring resort, apparently some weeks after their fight. Apart from reminding Fate of just how jealous she was of all of Nanoha's connections, it seemed nothing much of interest happened. However, Nanoha mused on her print self, and pointedly noted that she hadn't seen her ever since their fight.
In a scene at night, Nanoha and Yuuno spoke more of her. Nanoha seemed to seriously wish she knew more about her. Upon reading this, Fate looked out the window briefly and almost wistfully, as if Nanoha was just outside watching her. Apparently, the feeling was mutual. Maybe, just maybe, she should try and get to know her peacefully whenever she returned...?
Then she shook her head and kept reading. Shortly afterwards, Nanoha and Yuuno were awoken by something. They raced out to witness a machine that looked very much like one of the robots Mother used to defend their home. The machine proceeded to give them a tougher fight than anything before had done, but in the end it was defeated and Nanoha and Yuuno claimed another Jewel Seed.
From there, it transitioned into a scene where Nanoha's two best friends started getting concerned over her not telling them about her secondary occupation, followed by a few more scenes that were basically just the entire trio wondering about each other. Then from there it went to Nanoha and Yuuno tracking down yet another Jewel Seed. They found it shortly, surprisingly before it was executed.
Then Fate's eyes widened a little. "...Mother?"
Sure enough, the woman in purple she recognized as her mother had appeared before Nanoha and Yuuno. In the ensuing conversation, she was extremely hostile towards the pair, and also making derogatory remarks towards someone she just called "that girl." Then Mother proceeded to effortlessly defeat Nanoha and Yuuno in a matter of seconds. Then she proceeded to not only take the Jewel Seed they found just then, but every single Jewel Seed they had collected up until that point. Then she departed, leaving a new, blue-haired boy to stumble across Nanoha and Yuuno and take them to safety.
After finishing that segment, she had to put the book down. She had absolutely no idea her mother could be that cruel. Granted, she hadn't been the best person for a long time now, but all that seemed tame in comparison to what she just read. Then she felt a pit in her stomach as it occurred to her who "that girl" could had been...that was meant to refer to Fate, wasn't it? Everything Mother said about her didn't come off as loving at all. Just sheer disappointment that she didn't succeed in what she was asked to do.
From there her reading became somewhat frantic as she started desperately hoping that wasn't right. She skimmed over everything and anything that didn't have to do with Mother, which included things about Nanoha and Yuuno meeting a group called the Time-Space Administration Bureau and Nanoha finding out that Yuuno was actually a human able to turn into a ferret. She mostly got things the heroes were saying about Mother, as well as a few other scenes of Mother collecting Jewel Seeds and getting more and more exhausted in the process.
Unfortunately, the more she read, the more her worries started to get confirmed.
Eventually, it reached a point where Mother was desperate enough to initiate her plan for the Jewel Seeds. The resulting distortion was enough to get Nanoha and her fellow heroes to launch an attack on the Garden of Time. It seemed to be going smoothly. If Fate had been in a better mind, she might have found it exciting to read about. As it was, however, she wanted confirmation.
She got it, but not in the way she was expecting.
Nanoha reached Mother, only for Mother to reveal what looked to be her floating in some kind of stasis tank, apparently dead. Fate raised an eyebrow in confusion, but then she started frowning as Mother referred to this girl as Alicia. That wasn't her name...was it? Then Mother started going on about a "doll" she made in Alicia's form and rubbing it in Nanoha's face about how worthless this doll was....
At that point, Fate slammed the book closed. She almost threw it away, but ultimately just stared down at it with a mixture of sadness and confusion. No, that wasn't right. That couldn't be right. She couldn't be just some inferior copy! She had memories of it being better than this! Alas, the more she tried talking herself into not believing it, the more she realized just how much sense it made. No wonder Mother had gotten so hostile. Why care for a copy? It wasn't real, and it'd never be the real thing....
She just lied down and stared at the ceiling, trying to make sense of this revelation. At some point, her mind got too exhausted and she drifted off into sleep.
A Dream
"It is a pleasant day, isn't it, Fate?"
Fate and her mother sat on the side of a hill covered in golden grass, happily eating lunch. The sky above was clear and free of clouds, with the occasional breeze being pleasantly cool. At the base of the hill was their home.
Fate gave her mother a big smile, before taking a bite of her food.
"Of course, Mother," she said happily, "I don't want it to end."
"WHAT IS THIS?"
Hotel ~ Dawn of the Fifteenth Day - Twenty-four Hours of Holiday Depr...Cheer Remain
Fate awoke with a start hearing Arf scream something practically at the top of her lungs. She rapidly sat up and looked around, until finally remembering where she was.
"Arf?" she asked, with a worried frown, "Arf? What's wrong?"
"WHAT AM I WEARING? IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE?"
At that point Arf emerged from the bathroom, in her wolf form. She didn't look quite normal, however; she now wore a one-piece brown costume with a white stomach, with holes for her head and tail. On her head she wore a pair of fake antlers, as well as what looked like a clown nose.
Fate gave Arf an incredulous look for a few seconds, before breaking out into a giggle.
"I want to know who put me in this! I'm going to give them a piece of my mind!" Arf kept going, until she looked over Fate. She then snarled. "And they got you, too! They're going to pay for this!"
"...What?" Fate replied, before looking down at herself and realizing she woke up in a completely different outfit than the one she went to bed in. "If this was the result of a prankster, then they must have been really good to come in here and change our clothes without us waking up."
She frowned thoughtfully, before getting up and making her way towards the bathroom. "I think I remember something about each day here having a 'theme.' Maybe we got different clothes because of that?"
Arf sighed in frustration. "If that's true, then this got even more fun!" Then she looked down at herself again. " This is so humiliating!"
"Is there really any point to being mad? I don't think we can do anything to change it," Fate commented before looking herself over in the mirror.
The ribbons tying holding her pigtails had become much wider on top of becoming a dark purple color, and her face had been painted white with dark rings around her eyes. Her outfit had turned into a gothic-looking, dark purple top with poofy gold sleeves as well as a similar looking dark green dress. She also now had gold stockings and high-heeled slip-ons of a similar color. Her look was completed with a bat-shaped brooch attached to her shirt's collar. She also felt something a little odd in her mouth. She opened to find that she also had a pair of fake fangs over each of her canines.
After looking herself over a few times, she shrugged. "This is going to take some getting used to...."
Then she stepped back out, before a look of realization crossed her face. She ran back to her bed and started looking around frantically.
"Bardiche?"
"Yes Sir?" Bardiche intoned. Fate looked in the direction of his voice to see a golden domino mask lying on her pillow. She raised an eyebrow, before picking him up and putting him over her eyes.
"So, do we have any plans for today?" Arf asked, "Personally, I'm almost loathe to go out wearing this in public."
Fate's eyes flicked over to the book that was still lying on the bed. At that moment, she closed her eyes and sighed heavily as everything she learned last night suddenly came back to her. She still couldn't hardly believe it all. After a few moments of silence, she looked back up at Arf.
"I'm going to try contacting Mother."
Arf tilted her head to one side. "So we're going ahead with the mission after all?"
"Maybe, maybe not. I just want to...confirm something...."
At that, she picked up the book and made her way over to the door. "And I think I better do it soon."
Arf nodded. "If it's that important to you...."
The two of them then left the hotel room, and the hotel proper, and started looking around for the library. Along the way they took in the changes the city itself had undergone with curious expressions.
edited 11th Mar '17 11:30:00 PM by Yomegami
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
For the Horde!
Ben had been cuddled sleeping soundly with Eve the entire night, when Louie came in to ask if either of them were awake yet. Ben sat up gently, rubbing his eyes and looking around. His eyes widened in wonder at what was around. "Christmas themed?" Ben asked in awe. He immediately looked around the room to see if there was a tree and sure enough, there was. With presents underneath it! Ben nudged Eve gently. "Hey, Eve, wake up, apparently it's Christmas!" he told her quietly, but with excitement in his voice. He looked at her; she seemed to be dressed up as a.... witch for some reason. He thought it was Christmas, not Halloween, but whatever.
Ben stood up, immediately noticing a cape behind him, and he looked at his own outfit. He couldn't see all of himself, but from what he could tell he was dressed up as some sort of vampire
◊. This was certainly odd.
"Huh," Ben muttered. "That's weird. Whatever, lemme see what's under the tree!" Ben excitedly stated, rushing towards the tree and looking underneath, digging through the wrapped gifts to find something interesting. They didn't seem to be labeled with names, just "From Santa" and other various things.
After a night of searching, Ghostfreak wasn't having any luck. He had stumbled upon many other hapless people in the City, though none of them were the Tennyson boy he was attempting to hunt down. When the day finally broke and the City shifted again, Ghostfreak covered himself back in his outer casing to protect him from the light. Turning visible and floating over one of the City streets, he looked for the library. Miss Tairee would probably tell him how to contact Dr. Vicktor. He started floating towards the Library, not realizing how gaudy and positively Easter-themed
◊ he looked right now.
edited 11th Mar '17 11:38:01 PM by AllHailThrall
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
2 Spooky 4 U
Soon though, the gears in his head started to turn. Like the fact that he wasn't with his two pals anymore and that he was in a unknown world. Sora sat up with a rush and looked down to get his shoes. Problem number one with that was that his shoes were not there anymore. Problem number two, which wasn't really a problem, was that he had his Santa Form on. Then he heard both Ben and Louie. Sora got up and then got ready to put his walkie talkie and stuff into his.........gone pouches. That's great. Sora just rolled with it and he would make sure to grab them when they left the cottage.
Sora walked out of his bedroom and looked around. Same Christmas theme with even a tree. Sora yawned again and said sleepy, "Good morning everyone. Does anyone feel unnaturally well rested?" He already had one big year long sleep and he felt more well rested today compared to then! He took a moment to look at everyone's attire. Did Halloween Town and Christmas Town invade the whole City or something? Once again, Sora just kind of let it roll off of him from a mixture of waking up laziness and natural Soraness. The fire looked a little dim. Sora summoned the Kingdom Key.......well, he looked at what he summoned and it was the Decisive Pumpkin. Is this kind of prank or something?
Sora chopped up another log and put it into the embers. Soon, the warmth of it radiated back into the cottage. Much better.
edited 11th Mar '17 11:53:26 PM by LightToAll
Library
For the rest of the evening Garrett had been trying to wrap his head around using the laptop, up until Miss Tairee told everyone to leave. "You won't mind if I head to your place for the night?" he asked Plague Knight.
House - End of Day 14 - Well-earned rest
Sans quickly spotted a house, checked it and found it empty, so they promptly entered. Fortunately, the bedroom had enough room for all of them.
This day had been quite an emotional ride. The encounter with Fate, the whole way through with the decisions regarding the wish, culminating in Lucas using it to save Sans' world ... It was pretty mentally and emotionally draining, so she was pretty tired at this point, even so since it seemed like she hadn't be still at pretty much any point in the day since she had woken up ...
So she promptly laid on one of the beds and got comfortable, with Fried likewise curling up at the end of it. She yawned a bit, sleeply said, "Well, this has been quite a day ... Goodnight, guys ..." before dozing off shortly after ...
House - Dawn of Day 15 - Let's get festive!
As Caro started to wake up, she promptly noticed that one of those break day rules was definitely in effect: She felt completely rested and while this bed sure was comfy, it definitely felt she had far more energy than she would gotten from just that.
As she got up and stretched out, she noticed that her clothes felt somewhat different ... More tight, snug and a little warmer. As she looked on it, she could she that it was almost all black, with some white patterns. OK, this definitely seemed like one of those appearence change days as well ... She decided to find a mirror to see just how much she had been.affected.
As she looked at her reflection, she found herself in a one piece outfit, with a good deal of it being black, but the most noticably part being the white patterns, which now she could make out as being ... Bones? There was also a hood, which when pulled down, was revealed to have the outline of a skull. And as she looked at one of her wrists, the one where the bracelet from Sans usually laid, she instead found a chain of skull beads ... OK, she was apparently dressed like a skeleton now ... Sans would definitely find that amusing ... Once she got him to wake up that is ...
As she checked her other wrist, she found something missing however ... "Kerykeion? Are you around here?"
From a direction that indicated close to her bed, she heard the Device intone, "Here, Master."
As then went over there, instead of the expected bracelet-like form, she found a white, skull-shaped basket on top of a night table... Yep, there was definitely a theme going around here. Well, her functions seemed to be normal at least, going by that response. She then promptly picked her up by the handle on the top. Next to it, she found her bag, though it was now bright red. She reached inside and confirmed that everything was in there, including her phone, probably because this outfit had no pockets ... She then picked the bag up as well.
Fried came up to her then and she was expecting at this point, with a combination of an outfit similar to hers and plastic looking bones, she looked like a sort of skeletal dragon, complete with an appropriate skull.
"Oh, Fried ... You look oddly cute in that and I suppose so do in this ..." she spoke while caressing him a bit through of the softer spots in the get up. At least he didn't look too distressed by all this ...
Well, she would probably have to work hard in order to get Sans off bed, so she had better start it soon. She spotted what seemed to be him, but with a whole, large ... Pumpkin on his head!? With orange shorts and what she could make out of a black cape, the whole get up was even more unbelievable and amusing than her on. So it definitely seemed like everyone would put through things like this. That should be ... Interest, to say the least ...
She almost questioned how he could seem still so fast while wearing that and also with his phone going off, but wasn't terribly surprised ...
Going over to him, she laid her items down on a night table, then she tried to shake him awake, while saying animatedly, "Come on , Sans, get up ... You got a pumpkin on your head, for crying out loud! You just gotta see this all , you will laugh so much at it!"
edited 12th Mar '17 1:09:15 AM by JamesShields
feeling blue
Sans was snoring away but when Caro began trying to shake him awake, he began groaning a little and turned around in his sleep, revealing the face of his pumpkin head.
"i know you guys went through a lot of trouble so i wouldn't die but..." he groaned again, "i feel like i'm in heaven already, heheh..."
He then turned around again, lying on his side and facing away from Caro, seemingly not having processed what she had been saying nor having realized that there was definitely something wrong with his head and he was moving around in bed.
someone
Eve|Cottage|It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas
Eve woke up, somewhat unhappy about her surprisingly comfortable pillow gone. Rubbing her bleary eyes, she nevertheless never felt better. Well-rested and in possession of some new knowledge, she looked around, noticing the decorations.
"Christmas? Why is it Christmas?"
And then she looked down, noticing her new outfit. It was cute, but a little strange. And then she looked up, and stifled a giggle. Ben looked ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. Sora relit the fire, and Eve basked in the warmth for a moment, before joining Ben over at the tree.
"It's pretty."
[TOP SECRET]
There wasn't any other reaction she could've had, waking up and seeing their...their...
Costumes were putting it lightly, Seiga felt. "Punishment"
◊ fit better.IMPORTANT WARNING
"It's...it's very obvious what the day is, isn't it?" Seiga didn't expect a response for that one as she held her face in her hand, rubbing the surprisingly soft cuffs of her newfound attire on her face like Yoshika had with her llama the day before. All things considered, Seiga's was fine, it was Yoshika who must've felt true pain for the first time in...well, two days, but usually it was far longer. Seiga did consider opening a hole in her head and putting her out of her misery right then and there so she might revive without this bullshit, and so she wouldn't have to look at her reindeer.
Yoshika didn't like it either. As she stared into the sky, lying on the ground like a venison-flavored plank of wood, she moaned "I miss my haaaaat..."
At least there was one solace in this day. Tearing her attention from her self-loathing, Seiga noticed an television giving her a very clear notice. That is, an old, frayed VHS tape was playing some stop-motion Christmas movie, and alongside a flashing message saying their peace, every character in the show was loudly repeating "SEIGA KAKU, YOU HAVE A MESSAGE AWAITING YOU IN THE LIBRARY" in various cadences, like they were acting out their original roles.
It took a moment for her to realize exactly what kind of message, and when she did, she remarked "You know, it felt longer than two days." She got up and levitated the once-more morose Yoshika to her feet, and said "Yoshika...we need to head to the library, but let's just try to keep away from prying eyes. This is...this is just unbecoming of a hermit and a jiangshi."
So, they flew up. Straight the fuck up, heading past where any sane man would look to the edge of the sky, and straight on till morning or the library. Whichever came first.
THE SLORG!
It was a few minutes until someone arrived at Cole's room: Martha, carrying his now clean and folded clothes in her arms. Her own clothes seemed to be a rather mundane witch outfit, though she seemed to pull off the wide brimmed, pointy hat quite well. She paused once she entered, looking at Cole curiously. "Are you alright dear? Today's a happy day, so why look so worried?" Martha asked him. Then she seemed to remember the clothes in her hands, and stepped forward to put them on the end of the bed. "I know they look different, but these should be yours; I put your clothes in one of the driers last night, and these ones were in that same drier earlier, so from what Dave told me about the city, they should be yours. I understand if you don't like them, but at least they'll fit, and you can put them on for decency's sake while you go out to find something else to wear" she explained, though there was a slight impression from her tone and the way she motioned at the clothes that perhaps she was just saying the explanation out loud as much for her own benefit of trying to keep the city's rules in order in her head. This being suggested further by her next statement.
"Well, thankfully I don't mind my new outfit" Martha said with a sincerely happy, small grin as she looked back at Cole.
"You guys kinda remind me of ghost trainers" Louie thought out loud, looking at Ben, Sora, and Eve. Then he looked back down at his own outfit. "Why's mine gotta look so goofy?" he muttered to himself.
There was hurried footsteps from the last bedroom doorway and Thomas emerged quickly, glancing at the others. "... Oh, alright then. I thought maybe one of you was pranking me, but I guess it's just the city pranking all of us" Thomas said idly. His clothes underneath his cloak seemed to be based on that of a stereotypical leprechaun, however his cloak itself was a combination of teal, pink, and light green in pastel shades with a sort of wavy pattern to it. "Has anyone confirmed if... Wait never mind" the young wizard started to ask, then glanced at the fire and decided to find out for himself, sticking his hand out towards it... And then after a hesitant moment of experimentation, directly into the fireplace. The flames unnaturally warped around his hand, never touching it, and Thomas didn't look even remotely bothered by the heat.
"Whoa... So it is like you were saying" Louie said, moving over and trying that for himself, with much the same result.
"It's another peaceful day. Nobody can get hurt" Thomas stated with a nod.
Anybody heading to the library would, depending on their angle of approach, possibly see the Church of Literacy gathering outside one of the entrances. Of course, since they didn't seem to really have any uniform or symbol yet, the only giveaway that it was the Church of literacy was the way all the members sat down and looked towards Pastor Daniel, whom was dressed like Santa Claus. He started preaching about how the storyteller god had blessed the city with this day of peace and happiness, noting in particular the impossibility of lacking food as a sign of his potential generosity.
edited 12th Mar '17 4:31:26 AM by FirockFinion
You are reading this.
Arcade shifted awkwardly as he woke up. He felt incredibly well rested, to the point that it unnerved him. He had spent most of the day before reading (translation: brooding so hard he would've missed a nuke going off) and had passed out on a chair at some point. He should not have felt as well as he did. As he stood up he realized another reason he was uncomfortable.
Instead of his normal lab coat, he was wearing a gaudy suit; from his purely utilitarian perspective at least. It seemed entirely black, until he turned his arms and saw pictures of bones adorning the back of them, which matched the rib cage on his undershirt. Attached to the suit was a single red rose above his heart. He also reached up to find a top hat had somehow been placed on his head; on it was a small bouquet of fake flowers.
If he had access to a mirror he would see that his face was painted to look like a skeleton. As it was, he was simply confused by the change of clothes. The mix of emotions and tiredness almost distracted him from the message he had barely heard after his thoughts just halted the day before.
He practically ran through the shelves to get back to the lobby. If he could get in contact with the Remnants, maybe he wouldn't have to live alone anymore. He couldn't fight the optimism welling up in himself; he'd find his family and things would be better.
Once he found the lobby, he stopped dead in his tracks. He chastised himself for being surprised by the turnout. He wasn't the only person who had loved ones. He saw multiple copies of the librarian and made a beeline for whichever one seemed to be the least crowded. Once he reached her and she acknowledged his presence he asked, "do I need to tell you who I want to contact, or do I just need to tell you how I want to?"
edited 12th Mar '17 11:25:18 AM by Skooter910
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."
Nodding, Wang followed the two Annas out of the library; Hoji in tow. "Gotta make sure it's somewhere good, though."
At some point before the end of the day, he'd manage to find something that fit his wants, and settled down with his new companions for his first sleep in a while.
Jack woke to the sensation of something on his face. Blinking blearily, the winter spirit reached up and grabbed whatever it was, as his mind caught up with his waking state. He'd slept again, for the second time in hundreds of years. And it was still just as mortifying as the first time. Such an unusual sensation, to lose track of time like that and have such odd dreams. And that was one of the main parts. His dream, while a pretty amazing dream, had parts of it that reminded him of his previous dream. And the thoughts and weirdness it brought with it. Already he could feel his face flushing, and quickly focused on what he was holding instead.
He stared at the envelope curiously, and with a hint of confusion. It was your average white one, but the curious part was the neat writing on the front. Jack Frost. Why would a letter be addressed to him? For a moment he worried someone had snuck in while he was sleeping, but he had a feeling it was the work of the city. He had a feeling the fact that he was at a red, fur-lined sleeve instead of his typical blue one was also related to the city.
A few moments later, Jack was standing with Twinetender in his hand. He eyed his new outfit
◊, unsure of how to feel and very happy that none of this would ever get back to the others if he could help it. A look of almost horror spread across his face as he took in his staff's new striped look. Slowly, with mounting tension, he leaned forward then gave it a quick lick. He sighed in relief when it tasted like normal wood, and not a candy cane. That would have been a step too far. Still, his eyes narrowed on the red bow tied just below the crook. Grabbing it, the spirit grunted as he attempted to pull it loose, having no such luck. Groaning, he gave up. "Great... I look like an elf."
His eyes widened as a terrible thought hit him, but a quick check of the back of his hood with his hand confirmed no annoying bell. Still far too much red for his liking, but he'd learnt by now there wasn't anything he could do. Sighing, he turned his attention to the room. It had changed as well, and for the worse. Everything was... Easter themed. Jack chuckled lightly at the thought, ignoring the brief pang of homesickness as he thought of Bunny and his probable reaction to that thought, and everyone's to his outfit. The walls were painted like a grassy field, with coloured eggs of varying shapes and sizes scattered around it. There was even a cute, fluffy bunny carrying an Easter basket in its mouth, looking nothing like his friend. It was fantastic.
He attention quickly moved on from that and to the other occupants of the room. The small group of children, five of them to be exact, were sleeping peacefully on the beds and floor of the bedroom; Though some seemed to be stirring. His attention was drawn to the more unusual of them, who he had managed to find and get to trust him. Those two were currently curled up in what could only be called a nest of blankets on the floor, looking like nothing but a slightly moving pile fur and feathers from where he was standing. There was a ruffle of feathers, and a small face poked out of the nest; Looking around sluggishly. Stopping him, the young harpy hopped out of the bundle and stretched her wings with a trilling sound. He spirit chuckled when he noticed her feathers were now coloured like one of the eggs on the wall. The noise brought a snort from one of the beds, as a boy around the same age as Jamie sat up suddenly. It was then that Jack laughed, and so slowly but surely, the room woke.
Soon, the collection of children were milling around the room, reacting in different ways to the changes to themselves and the room. The odd centaur-like boy was stricken by the fact he was now green and covered in clover shaped marks, and very loudly making it known. The spirit winced just slightly, still not used to the sensation of the voice being inside his head. The other boy was there with him, looking down at his cupid outfit with indignation. The harpy was bouncing around trying to inspect her feathers, while the two sisters stood off to the side looking unsure but amused. The younger sister, dressed as a witch, clung his her older sister's hand, who was dressed like a christmas elf.
It was pretty obvious what the day's theme was to Jack.
With the kids occupied for the time being, the spirit finally turned his attention to the letter. Tearing it open with little finesse, he could the letter inside free and unfolded it.
Jack Frost. You have a message waiting for you at the Library.
He raised his eyebrows, before a grin spread across his face as he realized what the message must have been about. The message he had sent the one doing all this, about somewhere safe for the kids of the city. He had already planned to head there today, so there was no reason not to get moving now.
"Alright kids," Jack grinned as the small group all focused on him, "I've got a place to show you all. I'm sure you'll love it, and it's safe and should have everything you need."
<Will it have grass?> Rennit, the centaur-like boy, asked mentally, sounding annoyed.
Jack kept grinning. "I'd say you could get some, yeah."
That seemed to satisfy the alien child, and none of the others had anything to really ask or say. As they left the bedroom and moved into the rest of the apartment, the spirit grabbed the bag he had gotten the previous day. His good mood dampened a touch when his mind went to what it contained, and what he had learned, but he pushed it aside and went after the children.
The group soon found themselves standing on the road outside of the apartment building, looking around in surprise and awe. Jack himself close to being one of them. There were rides of every type in sight. Stands of food dotted the area. Cheerful carnival music played in the distance, and the general atmosphere of the people around them was one of enjoyment. And, everything was holiday themed. Christmas rides, covered in perpetual snowfall, stood tall next to stalls serving Easter and Halloween themed foods. There, a Valentines Day target shooting stall was gathering a small crowd. A tall, blonde-haired man using the toy bows to expertly hit target after target as the crowed cheered.
And the children themselves looked ready to wander off, swept up in their surroundings already. Jack chuckled. He had a feeling it would take them a while to reach the Library. With a wind-assisted leap, the christmas-coloured spirit landed in front of the group and threw his arms out wide. "How about we go have some fun first?"
Happy Box Hater
House-Night Before
It had been a fairly long day for the contest winner, and Lucas was ready to pass out. Lucas slipped into bed and fell asleep easily, and not once did he stir that night.
House-Day 15
He awoke feeling incredibly refreshed and well-rested. Not that he saw that as interesting, seeing as how that happened to him every time he slept. Still nice, though. The thing that woke him up was Caro trying to get Sans out of bed. And the thing that actually brought him to lucidity was the incredibly uncomfortable for sleeping in clothes he was wearing. They weren't hurting him or anything, but a stereotypical pilgrim costume couldn't be easy to go back to sleep wearing.
Which is to say, anyone looking at Lucas would see the poor boy in full pilgrim garb, complete with incredibly pointy hat,, definitely contrasting Ms. Skeleton design and Mr. Pumpkin Head. Lucas wasn't really upset with this new look, but the contrast was kind of hilarious. He walked over to where Sans was adamantly not getting up and stood there, contemplated for a moment, and decided that a psychic flash bang was not a good way to wake someone up. Instead, Lucas joined in shaking Sans up.
edited 12th Mar '17 10:11:12 AM by pillowmantis
Why is a yam attacking me?
For the Horde!
Ben smiled at Eve as she got up and sat next to him by the tree. "Yeah, really, it is pretty," he replied. "I don't know why you're a witch, and I'm like a vampire or something, when it's clearly Christmas but I—" he started to say, but then he saw Louie and Thomas' outfits. Ben stared at them for a moment, then he burst out laughing. "Oh man, that's great," he exclaimed in between laughs. "You two both look ridiculous."
When he recovered, he looked at Eve. "C'mon, let's open some! I wonder if any of us got anything good." He grabbed the nearest box, unwrapping it, and pulling off the top. Ben blinked, raising an eyebrow to see what looked like a little ragdoll with little blonde pigtails and a blue dress. He looked at it, confused for a moment, before handing it to Eve without a word and grabbing another box.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
I think I'm a sofa
Abel - Between the Moby Dick and a Ticket Booth - Day 15
Abel woke up not by himself, but by the loud, rumbling noise coming from somewhere. He opened his eyes and noticed that he had propped himself up against some sort of building, but his neck didn't hurt from the awkward sleeping position. He chalked it up to pure luck and took his hat off and put it on the gr—
Wait, he had a hat?
He looked down.
Apparently he had a hat.
Abel picked up the big green thing and examined it for a while before noticing something else. The buttons on his jacket were four leaf clovers, and the buttons on his boots were the same way. That was weird, but then again, he had to remember where he was. Abel stood up, stretched, pulled Rixis out, and fell over.
"Oh my god, Rixis, what happened to you? Why are you red?"
Rixis himself seemed to be surprised, as he took one look at his tail and started flying erratically in confusion. His head and tail were red, with the three feathers on the tip having been replaced with a heart-shaped ornament. The spots on the tip of his wings were hearts, too, and now they were pink instead of red. Abel put his hands up to try and calm Rixis down. "Look, we'll figure this out, just calm down." Eventually, he did, and hastily slid back into Abel's coat.
This was all kinds of strange, but at least Abel got the short end of the stick. He picked up the hat and felt a strange need to put it on his head, even though he knew he would look stupid. He did it anyway. After making sure no one was watching, he started making his way to...well, he didn't know, but it was definitely a place.
(holds pool noodle threateningly) Do you want to know what we do to artists?
Ciri wasn't so sure why everyone got to enjoy the benefits of Rex's actions if he had accepted the challenge all by himself.
"Well, I specifically asked for everyone to be able to call back home but my best guess is he's using me as an excuse to throw more monsters our way"
Now a question came to mind, they had been talk for a bit now but Rex had no idea who this woman was.
"What's your name, by the way?"