SOMETHING DEAD THAT DOESN'T KNOW IT'S DEAD.
» THE CITY — INTRODUCTORY NOTES
Now that Halloween is just around the corner, the city is starting to come alive with seasonal cheer. You start to spot decorations scattered around the city: plastic skeletons sitting on benches, jack-o-lanterns decorating front stoops, and even a few places in the park near City Hall where the trees themselves have been decorated. It's clear that the autumn season is in full swing and the city is making the most of it.
From the morning of October 19, you also start to notice flyers hung up around the city that advertise the local university's homecoming Halloween party. They're cheerfully decorated much the same as the newsletter that was delivered to residents earlier in the month, and they're hung from light poles, pinned to bulletin boards, and occasionally fluttering on front stoops of apartment buildings. There might even be one taped to your door when you open it in the morning.
The flyer announces that the Halloween party will begin on October 22 and will run through October 31. It runs every night from sunset to midnight, and residents are encouraged to attend in costume! If they have their own costume, perhaps found at the Halloween Superstore, that's perfect—if they don't have a costume, though, one will be provided to them by the party organizers. Doesn't that just sound like fun? And the flyers really are everywhere, and that makes it hard not to take notice—but once you take notice, you really can't stop noticing.
Indeed, once you read one of the flyers, you just can't help but read the flyer every time you encounter another one. And every time you read one, you find yourself feeling a little more curious about the party being advertised. Will it be anything like the Halloween I know? you may think. Or, I don't even know what Halloween is, I wonder what it'll be like. It's not quite enough to compel you to pay a visit to the address on the flyer, which is one of the dorm buildings on the university campus, but it's definitely enough to get you thinking about Halloween. Maybe you ought to go find a costume…
But Halloween parties and costumes are not all you're thinking about. It's easy enough to write off at first, as tricks of the light or a figment of your imagination: flickers of shadow at the corner of your eye, cold spots in your apartment, creaking footsteps in your empty living room. There's nothing there when you turn your head to look, nothing there when you flick on the lightswitch to see if someone's in your house—but somehow, that doesn't reassure you.
By the evening of October 21, every resident in the city has been visited by some sort of entity haunting their house, and every resident of the city has been left a gift: a dorm room key, each differently numbered. You may find the key in your pocket, or on your bedside table, or in your favorite coffee mug.
Should you decide to attend the party, it will be up to you to decide: Is this just the City getting in the spirit of the season? Or is it something more… malevolent?
The flyers will be strewn about the city in various locations beginning on October 19. Characters who read them will find themselves feeling oddly compelled to go check out the advertised Halloween party, which will run from October 22 to October 31 between sunset and midnight. For the most part this will just feel like a sense of curiosity about the party, and astute characters may be able to pick up on the fact that they're being emotionally manipulated a bit.
Characters who choose to go can wear a costume of their choosing from the Halloween Superstore, or the City will provide one if they don't have a costume of their own yet. (Read on for more information about how characters can get their hands on a costume!)
Lastly, every character will find a dorm room key somewhere on their person before the party starts on October 22. This key may or may not correspond to a room in the dorm where the party is being held—of course, characters are not obligated to use the key, but they may want to know what's hiding behind those closed doors.
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ALL THESE GHOSTS COME STREAMING DOWN.
» THE CITY — GETTING THE PARTY STARTED
On the morning of October 22, every device in the city starts to buzz.
The screen illuminates, displaying a white page not unlike the orientation survey that welcomed you into the city. Unlike the orientation survey, though, there are no questions—only a single phrase in bold, dark text. THE GOOD OF THE MANY, it says, with a single "OK" button below.
For a minute, nothing else happens. You try to turn the device off, but the screen stays lit; you try to reboot the device, but the screen stays lit. It seems that the only way to get rid of the screen is to press the button.
…Have you done this before? Or are you having déjà vu?
At sunset that same day, the Halloween party will open for the first time. The party's entrance is located on the ground level of a large three-story dorm building in the western half of the university campus. The double doors into the building are fully decorated with folded-paper bats and ghosts, cotton batting pulled apart to make spiderwebs, and a cut-out sign that says "HAUNTED HOUSE" in bright red, dripping-blood letters. The decor looks almost… corny, hokey in a way that can't possibly be threatening. Right?
But the decorated double doors aren't the only way that residents may enter the party. Of course, the organizers would prefer that you use the front doors, but if you'd prefer not to, they have other ways of getting you inside.
After the party begins on October 22, any door in the city that you walk through has the potential to become a door into the first level of the dorm building. You may exit your apartment and find yourself standing in the darkened lobby; you may walk out of the bathroom and run right into a handful of cotton spiderwebbing. Unfortunately, there's nothing to indicate whether or not a door might lead to the party until you're through it—and once you're through it, there's no turning around. The only way out, as they say, is deeper in.
Were you wearing a costume in preparation for the party? Fantastic, you'll keep that costume on! But if you weren't wearing a costume, don't worry—the party's organizers have you covered. You look down and find that no matter what you were wearing before, you are now wearing a costume of some kind. Maybe it's one you would have chosen for yourself, or maybe it's totally not to your taste. If you truly hate it, you can try to take it off… although you may not find it easy to remove.
Once the party begins on October 22, as stated above, any door in the city has the potential to become a door that leads directly to the first level of the haunted house. Characters will not be able to tell by any means whether a door is pointed there or not; only once they're fully through the door will they realize that they're actually standing in the lobby of the decorated dorm building and not in whatever room they intended to enter. Once characters are inside, there's unfortunately no way to get out, not without making their way through the haunted house itself.
Whether a character enters the haunted house via the main double doors or through another door somewhere else in the city, they'll need to come in costume. (Their own canon clothes do not count!) If they're already wearing a costume, they can keep it on arrival; however, those who enter the haunted house costumeless will be assigned a costume at random by the city. The actual costume is up to the player's choice. It may end up being something that suits the character, or it may end up being something totally embarrassing—that's completely up to the player.
Regardless, characters will have a difficult (but not impossible) time removing the costume until they have exited the haunted house. This includes both physical difficulty (feeling as though the costume is fused to their skin, feeling physical resistance to undoing zippers/buttons, etc.) and mental difficulty (an overwhelming sense of dread or vulnerability). Characters are able to overcome both of these difficulties to remove the costume if they're dedicated enough; the clothes they were originally wearing may be still on under the costume or might be awaiting them at home when they return.
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THEY GO TO GROUND AND ROT.
» THE HAUNTED HOUSE — LEVEL 1
CONTENT WARNINGS: One image containing fake spiders, mention of spidery feelings; mention of zombies (but no images)
The ground floor of the dorm is decorated much how one might expect a haunted house at a university to be decorated. The entrance to the haunted house proper is through a tunnel of cotton spiderwebs filled with little plastic spiders, so narrow that it forces you to hunch down and squish together to get through. Although it feels claustrophobic, and you may imagine the sensation of little spider legs crawling over your body, once you make it through the tunnel it becomes clear that the spiders never actually moved. Whew!
The tunnel lets out into the first-floor dorm, a long (too long?) stretch of hallway with doors leading to rooms on either side. Some of the doors are closed and locked, but many are open, allowing you a glimpse as you pass. As you walk down the hallway, you make sure to peer into each of the rooms. Some of the doors lead to total blackness; others lead to rooms decorated like an elaborate Victorian haunted mansion, and yet others even lead to perfectly normal dorm rooms, like someone forgot to get around to decorating. And sometimes—not every time, but often enough—when you peer into one of the rooms, there's something peering back.
Most of the frights you get on the first floor come in the form of animatronics, realistic-looking ones that jump out at you as you pass and give you a fright. There's a man with a bloody knife, or a zombie with flesh hanging from its teeth, or a clown with sharp, venomous-looking fangs—they leap out of the doorways with a startling quickness, but never come close enough to touch. They just brandish their weapons, then retreat back into the room they came from as if satisfied with the scare they've given.
There are also a handful of real scare actors on the first floor as well, perhaps even some faces you recognize. They lurk in the darkened rooms and leap out with growls or shrieks, then chase you a few meters down the hall before leaving you to run away. Just like the animatronics, though, they never get close enough to touch or harm you—they just want to get your blood racing.
The rest of the scares come from paintings that abruptly change form to show a ghost's face, or candles that swoop down across your path and then move back up. And behind it all are the spooky sounds of groans and screams and tearful begging, a solemn soundtrack to your trip through the haunted house.
Oddly, you never do see a speaker. And even more oddly still, none of the rooms on the first floor match the number of the key you're holding…
The first level of the haunted house consists of fairly cheap scares, mostly relying on animatronics, voiceover tracks, and tricks of the light or optical illusions to deliver scares to the residents. Players should feel free to use their imaginations to come up with potential scares or animatronics—think something moderately more scary than Haunted Mansion but less than Halloween Horror Nights. The animatronics may feature enemies or monsters from characters' home worlds, or may be simply generic creatures you would find at a Halloween store.
In addition, the first level is also populated by characters working as scare actors. These characters may be those who attended Robby and Tsuruno's house party, or may simply be characters with a sense of humor who enjoy making other characters jump and shriek a little. Either way, these scares are harmless and non-contact. The scare actors won't harm anyone going through the haunted house, even if they do a little chasing down the hall.
Although the hallway looks oddly long and is perhaps a bit more winding than it ought to be, there doesn't seem to be anything particularly odd about the dorm building itself. Characters may, however, find that the trip through the haunted house feels shorter when they're accompanied by another.
For characters who don't wish to venture up the stairs to the second level, there is a well-hidden emergency exit tucked out of sight behind the staircase that leads upward. This is the opt-out for players who don't wish to engage with the events in the second and third levels of the dorm.
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WE WILL NOT REMAIN UNSCATHED.
» THE HAUNTED HOUSE — LEVEL 2
CONTENT WARNINGS: Generally spooky images including some ghostly ones; mention of hanging. Prompts include violence (such as mutilation) potentially leading to serious injury or death. As always, please warn appropriately!
It's once you reach the second level that you realize something has shifted.
The metal door at the end of the hallway swings shut behind you, and you immediately realize it's far too dark and far too cold. Even with your eyes wide, you can barely make out the shapes of the decorations around you; they are lit mostly by the flickering orange of electric candles and the glow of the emergency exit sign above your head. Your breath condenses into steam as you exhale, and although you rub your hands together, you can't quite seem to gain any warmth. You feel a little bit dizzy and off-kilter, and from the distance you can hear the sound of a voice murmuring in quiet, urgent tones, interrupted by brief bouts of sobbing. You try the door behind you, but it doesn't give: you are stuck here, and must make it out.
The hallway is decorated, but even the same decorations that felt corny downstairs now give this floor an air of discomfort and desperation. As you make your way down the hall, you notice that many more of the doors on this level are open, and in the sickly, dim light cast by the fake candles, you're able to catch glimpses of what's inside: shadowy figures moving in the blackness. These are creatures that seem made of the dark itself, congealed into something more or less resembling a person. There's one sitting at the desk like a good student, its too-long fingernails rasping over the surface as it scratches something into the wood. There's one sitting on the windowsill, its too-long limbs hanging out into the night. There's one hanging from the ceiling, its feet at eye level, swaying slightly in an unfelt breeze. There's one standing dead in the middle of the room and staring straight at you, its eyes two embers in its featureless head.
You lock eyes briefly and the creature starts to move: this ghost is coming after you, and this one means it. There's no animatronic rigging to stop it and pull it back into the darkness of the room, and it's no scare actor that will stop after a few meters of pursuit—no, its hands reach for you, for your hair, your throat, fingers clutching and grasping. You turn and run, but it pursues, and that voice you heard murmuring earlier is now a fever pitch of syllables behind you, half-whispered, half-screamed in a language you can't understand. The noise of it draws more ghosts out from their rooms, and they follow as you sprint down the too long, twisting length of the hallway. You can see the glow of the exit sign at the end lf the hallway, drawing closer as you madly dash for it—
And then you trip. Or maybe you're pushed, you're not sure. You hit the carpet hard and then the ghost is on you, its hands scrabbling at your throat, fingers prodding at your eyes. Of course you fight back—if you don't, you're going to die—but as you fumble blindly for something with which to beat the ghost off, you realize that this ghost has weight to it, that the fingers trying to tear out your throat aren't incorporeal and ghostly but rather the fingers of a pair of very human hands. As you blink, eyes straining in the darkness, the features of the ghost begin to resolve into those of a person.
And it is a person. It's a person you may even know, a friend of yours, a fellow resident of the City. Not a mannequin facsimile, but someone real, someone who fights you with everything in them as you struggle to break free.
Your grasping hand grips something firm, maybe a flashlight or a fire extinguisher, and you swing it as hard as you can at their head. You don't want to, this is your friend, but what choice do you have? After all—it's either them or you.
Once characters enter the second level of the haunted house, those attuned to energy flow will immediately be able to recognize this as a place full of negative ghostly energy. Characters may sneak extremely carefully and quietly through the hallways, avoiding every single ghost; they may be pursued by ghosts, but ultimately make it to the exit, beyond which the ghosts will not pursue; or they may be caught by a ghost (or "ghost") and be forced to fight for their lives.
Not all of the "ghosts" on the second level are truly ghosts. Players may opt to have their characters participate in the event as the considerably more deadly "scare actors" of the second level. Only they won't be acting: to these characters, anyone who passes by in the second-floor hallway (the "partygoer") is an absolute threat that must be dealt with immediately. Scare actor characters will be possessed by an irrepressible need to hunt down and attempt to injure or kill any partygoer or other scare actor they encounter, and can only be stopped by either death (of either the partygoer or the scare actor) or being knocked out and removed from the hallway.
These characters may also be those who attended Robby and Tsuruno's Halloween house party and ended up getting a little too in-character in a negative way (see their plotting post for more information). However, characters do not have to attend the house party in order to participate in this mechanic. Any character who enters the haunted house can become a second-floor ghost if the player so desires.
Either the scare actor or partygoer may be seriously injured or even die. If this happens to the partygoer, the haze of bloodlust will immediately lift from the scare actor and reveal to them what they've done. (If the scare actor is knocked out or dead, obviously this realization will take place after they've returned or regained consciousness.) Killing and death as a part of the October event is not subject to murder or death consequences.
If a character chooses to sneak through the second floor and avoid the ghosts, and does so by entering any of the decorated dorm rooms, they may find shorthand messages scratched into the desks, closets, or doors. These messages might just be names, familiar ones belonging to people from home, or might say things like HELP ME or ITERATION 4█ or LOOK BEHIND THE APOCALYPSES. Characters may also find small, non-magical, recognizable personal effects belonging to people from their home worlds, tucked into drawers or kicked under the bed or in some otherwise unobtrusive location, easily overlooked.
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WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY, SET SOMETHING ON FIRE.
» THE HAUNTED HOUSE — LEVEL 3 AND CONCLUSION
After the second level of the haunted house, the only way to go is up… assuming you survived, that is. Exhausted and battered, you make your way up the stairs—perhaps alone, perhaps with a friend, or perhaps dragging the unconscious body of your assailant-friend—and let yourself into the third-floor common area.
This is where the Halloween party is taking place! Congratulations, you made it! There's a bass-heavy soundtrack throbbing in the background, and the room is decorated once again in the cheesy Halloween decor of the entryway. A large casket full of ice holds beers and sodas, and a table in the middle of the room bears all sorts of spooky snacks: peeled-grape "eyeballs," candy corn "teeth," sour gummy worms in brownie dirt, and any other kind of snack one might imagine.
If you made it through the haunted house with a friend, you will find a letterman jacket in your favorite colors, with your name embroidered on the back, hanging on a peg on the far wall of the room. You can take it with you now, or when you go home, or you can leave it on the peg forever—it's your choice, but it is a symbol of having survived the haunted house, so it might be nice to have. Don't you think?
You may have to do this again, you realize. Now that the doors in the city occasionally open straight into the haunted house, there's no telling how many times you'll have to survive this before the Halloween party draws to its close. Maybe you do need a beer after all…
Oh, and you still don't know what dorm room that key goes to. Maybe you had better just hang onto it for now.
The topmost floor of the dorm building, the third floor, is where the "party" part of the Halloween party is taking place! The food and drink is abundant and, of course, free. There's just about any type of drink or Halloween-themed snack imaginable, so characters can help themselves. When they're through partying, there's an outside staircase that leads directly from the common room back down to ground level.
Characters who survive the haunted house in a group of two or more will find that that there is a custom-made letterman jacket with their name on the back, perfectly their size, hanging on a coat rack on the far side of the room. While wearing this jacket, characters will be less susceptible to the scares in the haunted house, and the ghosts of the second floor will not pursue them as intently (although it has no effect on scare actor characters). To any characters who are particularly sensitive to this sort of thing, the jackets do have a moderate protective effect against various negative status effects, so to speak; this effect does not diminish after the event is over. Characters can only get one jacket, their first time through the haunted house; subsequent trips through will not result in additional jackets.
The dorm room key is not a usable item during the October 2023 event, but will become usable in November and December, so characters are advised to not lose them.
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WILDCARD.
The city is by no means small, and there are plenty of things for you to see. There's no rush in exploring, so feel free to take your time looking around and peering into various nooks and crannies and alleyways—and don't worry, you're not very likely to find anything peering back.
If none of the above prompts appeal, feel free to check out the Locations and Maps pages and write your own freestyle prompt using one or many of the available locations.
This month's event headers come from "Landscape with Fruit Rot and Millipede," a poem by Richard Siken.
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citylogs2023-10-19 09:00 pm
no subject
[Much to Brook's long-suffering annoyance, he is small and easily manhandled. The grab is sudden enough that he doesn't register what's happening until Onni's already flung him back and is poking his spear at a--jack-in-the-box sarcophagus thing that Brook had honestly just kind of glanced at and decided to ignore. The mummy was clearly an electronic puppet of some kind, not a serious threat.]
What? [In a lower voice:] What.
[Flustered, he tries to peer around Onni, finally finding an open view between his arm and side. Then he groans.]
It's not real. It's... like a big toy. [He points through his window.] See, it just does the same thing over and over. Wait a few seconds and it'll open again.
no subject
[The thing on the wall doesn't move again, and Onni registers that it's less like a troll or beast than it is some kind of machine, and Brook's explanation only serves to confirm that. It seems Brook is more versed in these modern things than Onni is.]
That's stupid. Who would waste a motor on something like that?
[Motors are hard to come by where he's from.
After a moment, he lets go of Brook's shirt and puts his spear up, staring at the machine until the door closes again with another loud 'clack' noise. He can't help but tense a little at the loud noise, but he doesn't react again. Instead, he goes up to it and pokes it.]
Is this kind of thing going to be common here, do you think?
[How is he supposed to tell a real threat from something like this?]
no subject
Does he have to go up on tiptoes to reach its face? Maybe. He turns away from the mummy with a huff.]
Probably. I'm sure this place is stocked up on anything that'll give people a scare.
[The dorm room closest to the sarcophagus is open, though mostly dark. Brook peeks around the door frame and finds the inside of the room decorated like a small, crumbling church, complete with electric votive "candles" close to the entrance. They're not glued down, so he takes one that isn't flickering dramatically like some of the others.]
You hold onto your spear. I've got a light, so I'll lead this time.
[That way, if there is a threat, it'll have to go through him first. Unlike Onni, Brook could fit right into a haunted house; he's undead and full of demon. What does he have to fear?]
no subject
Well, it seems to be working.
[It's a little sarcastic, maybe, and Onni follows Brook to the room he goes to peer into. Onni thinks maybe they should try avoiding the rooms and stick to getting out of here, but reconsiders after a moment. Maybe there's a window or something they can crawl out of in the rooms.]
Alright.
[He doesn't like the idea of Brook leading the way, but if he's going to serve as scout, Onni just hopes he has the skills to back it up. The truth is, he hasn't really seen Brook in action yet, and while he keeps his spear very ready just in case something jumps out to hurt the younger (older?) man, he's curious to see how Brook handles himself.]
no subject
Fake and hokey.
[The window, however, proves far more stubborn. While the open/locked latches move easily enough, no amount of pulling or shoving or frustrated growling budges the window itself. Eventually he stops and balls his fists at his sides.]
Keep back.
[With just that as warning, magenta-tinged jet black energy bursts out of Brook's body, like a spark catching on flammable gas and roaring to a sudden flame. The darkness towers over him in the shape of a rabbit. Apparently, though, it's just for show. That same black energy wraps around Brook's white-gloved hand as he pulls back and then strikes at the window for all he's worth. The force of it certainly seems like it should shatter the glass, if not take out the surrounding wall.
But this is the City, and nothing happens. He punches the window a few more times, just to be sure, and then releases his demon with a loud noise of vexation. It vanishes, dissipating like smoke in a breeze.]
This is so annoying. We're not allowed to take shortcuts, huh?
no subject
This is so stupid.
[He doesn't get it at all. But still, he can feel the prickling on the back of his neck, like there's danger that he just hasn't really run into yet. He watches as Brook pulls down the boarding at the window (also fake) and then tries the windows. Onni is about to offer to try it himself, thinking maybe he'll be strong enough to do it, when Brook says to keep back.
Onni opts to just take a step back, allowing Brook to handle it, and watches as he does his not-mage thing. The darkness that towers over him in a rabbit shape has the prickles increasing on the back of his neck, and he takes another step back, involuntary this time. Then Brook punches with a force Onni could never have imagined he'd have in him, and the window...still doesn't break.]
That should've broken it. So it seems we're not. This place really does seem almost sentient, doesn't it?
[In spite of himself, he's impressed by Brook's power, however creepy it might be.
A sigh.]
Well, there has to be a way out of here. It can't just be this... [He waves a hand around vaguely.] ...forever.
no subject
[He kicks at the hollow boards--not with his demon strength, just petulant annoyance--picks his candle back up, and goes back into the hall.
And a second glance proves that it really does just seem to be a hall--no twists or turns, just a straight shot lined with more dorm room doors. It's unrealistically long, perhaps, but that doesn't register on Brook. He's used to endless nonsense spaces. That's all purgatory was.]
...It'll take forever to check each room. [Even if many of the doors are closed, there are still plenty of them.] But I guess we don't really have a choice, just in case one of them's the way out.
no subject
[Great, that's exactly what they need, a stupid maze. He follows Brook into the hallway again, but it doesn't look like a maze. It looks like a straight shot to the stairs, and he has no concept of how long this straight shot should be.]
Do you think we need to check the rooms? The stairs are right there. We could always try it.
no subject
[Then he shrugs.]
But I guess we don't know if we started on the ground floor or not. We could be in a basement. [Anything outside the windows might be more fake decoration.] Might as well see if the whole next floor is like this or something different before wasting time on the rooms.
[So, off he goes in front, still tugging at his stupid, pink skirt. It's a cautious pace, still, just in case anything that jumps out at them happens to be more than just a puppet. But he's just wary. Not afraid.]
no subject
[Onni looks back and forth, up and down the hallway, but all he sees behind them is the door they'd come in from, which is solidly locked. They'd tested it themselves.]
Though basements don't usually have doors to the outside, do they? Though I suppose it could be one of those places with a basement entrance...
[He's not exactly an architectural genius or anything, his experience outside of cabins and small houses being restricted to the ruins he's been walking through.
He's a little surprised when Brook simply takes his idea and runs with it. He's used to a little more argument from Brook.]
Alright. Let's try the stairs.
[With that, he strides ahead toward the stairs, wary for any more moving mannequins.]
no subject
[Oh yes, Brook can absolutely be bratty and difficult, and has been several times in poor Onni's general direction. The difference today is that he has no worries whatsoever that this place can present any danger to him. Before, he was freaking out about the unexplained changes to the abilities and regular functioning of his body, facts he's taken for granted for a century. Now that he's settling into a new normal, he's operating under his default assumption that nothing the living world has to offer can really threaten a Reaper.
It's a misconception, of course, but one neither the City nor its residents have yet had an opportunity to correct.
So, while he's irritated, Brook feels safe enough to be lazy in these circumstances. As far as he figures, they'll get out eventually, and skipping examining every room should make it happen faster, as long as they're all duds like the first one.
Of course, eventually, they pass a cleverly timed animatronic display set to jump out after they've gone by to give them a scare from behind.
Maybe this one bears some resemblance to a troll.]
no subject
And that's why, when the twisted, mutated thing pops up behind them, Onni lets out a yelp of surprise and is immediately plunging his spear forward, the end ramming into something solid and smooth and slipping off immediately. He jumps back from it, grabbing for Brook and pushing him behind himself, then reaches up to yank his hood down over his eyes, his free hand coming up to cover Brook's.]
Don't look at it!
no subject
[He's really got to get used to Onni yanking him around. It's Onni's reaction more than the scare itself that startles him, Onni's real fear and then the big, furry paw in his face. Brook leans back, shakes his head sharply, and then scowls at the scene unfolding.]
Move.
[Without waiting for Onni to acknowledge the suggestion, Brook ducks under his outstretched arm, plants a foot, makes one powerful leap to eye level with the fake troll, and kicks its animatronic head clean off with a boot stained black. It goes crashing down the hall with a crunch of smashed electronics. The headless body lowers its limbs and retreats automatically back into its dorm.
Brook looks back at Onni.]
It isn't real.
[Obviously, in retrospect.]
no subject
When Brook tells him to move, Onni settles himself more steadily but isn't fast enough to stop the smaller man as he ducks under his hand and arm and leaps at the troll.]
Wait, Brook!
[But then Brook's foot smashes through the head of the troll and breaks it directly off. The way the head falls off isn't the biological movement of flesh, though, it's something else. Like plaster or something. It's then that he realizes that it's another of those moving mannequins, and he scowls at the thing and at Brook both.]
Another of those things.
[A frown, staring at the troll.]
Did you know when you jumped at it?
no subject
[He crosses his arms. Somehow, the pigtails make him look even more petulant than he already would.]
Does it matter? I took care of it.
no subject
[It does, though, because that means that Brook was willing to jump foot-first into a troll attack to protect Onni, and that's just something he's not used to. Onni has spent a very long time being the protector, the guardian, the one who watches out for others. Even in his work, he'd been in charge of placing defensive and protective spells around the city he'd lived in. Having someone jump into danger to protect him is foreign, and he doesn't know how he feels about it. Whether he's irritated that Brook would put himself at risk like that, or pleased at having someone value him like that.
Either way, it's not something he says grudgingly, when he says it.]
Thank you.
no subject
Before the moment can stretch on too long, he catches himself, clears his throat, and looks away. Some flustered color rises to his cheeks.]
...Yeah. Sure.
[Brook's a little better at being thanked than he was before teaming up with Scarlet and Chase, but not much. He's still not used to it. Maybe he never will be.]
It was nothing. L-let's keep going.
no subject
Onni reaches out and gives Brook's shoulder a light squeeze, then drops his hand and moves past him toward the stairs again.]
Anyway, you shouldn't worry about me.
[He says it with a practiced air, like it's something he's said many times before to someone who will still worry about him. Just like Brook probably will. Onni makes a mental note to try his best not to give Brook reasons to worry.]
Should we continue?
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What is this kind, casual physical contact?? Why did he do that? What does it mean? Brook stares after Onni and then hurries to follow, not yet registering that Onni has taken the lead back from him in his confusion.]
--Uh. Yeah. Of course. Getting out of here isn't gonna figure itself out if we don't. ...Probably.
[In a place like this, maybe it could. He'd rather not leave that up to the invisible City forces that brought them here for shiggles in the first place, though.
Hey, wait a minute.]
I thought we agreed I'd go in front.
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[He starts moving again, then, heading toward the stairs. He's not completely ignorant of the effect he's had on Brook by simply touching him, but he decides not to push it, not to ask him about it. If Brook is going to get used to those sorts of things, he'll need time to process how he feels about it on his own, and Onni is willing and patient enough to give him that time.
He strides toward the stairs, eyes narrowed, looking out for anything else that looks dangerous, but doesn't see anything he can't immediately identify as one of those moving mannequins or some other type of 'decoration.' When Brook says that he thought they'd agreed he'd go in front, Onni turns to look at him with a rare half-smile.]
Oh? Did we?
[It's light, a little teasing despite the situation they're in. One of Onni's rare jokes.]
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Brook--well, there's no more flattering way to put it, the expression on his face is definitely a pout--pouts at Onni while he figures out how to feel about the teasing. Then he huffs, gives his head a small, sharp shake that tosses his pigtails, and takes advantage of the moment to stride right past Onni again.]
Yeah. These big, bad monsters will just have to pick on someone their own size.
[Says the itty bitty monster in his pink knee-high boots.]
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They will.
[Thankfully, as they make their way through the rest of the first floor, there's not much more to startle them. Onni has, at least, gotten used to the moving mannequins, and doesn't startle immediately as soon they pop out at him, though he does still poke them with his spear to make sure they make that hollow plastic sound. It's not too long before they make their way to the stairs and start to go up them.
As soon as they're on the second floor, Onni feels the hairs stand up on the back of his neck, and he can hear the voices, garbled, messed up voices that remind him of trolls. Reaching out, already feeling a little dizzy, he catches at the slack of Brook's sleeve to try to stop him just moving forward.]
Maybe I should lead here.
[His voice sounds serious now, no attempt at joking or teasing.]
I can hear them.
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He stops when Onni catches his sleeve. Listens. Considers the dark stretch of hall and the distant murmuring even he can hear. He doesn't like it, but...]
Okay.
[He tries to pocket his candle, realizes his costume has no pockets, grumbles, and sets it down by the closed-off stairs. It isn't giving off enough light to be useful, so continuing to carry it would just give away their position. Somehow, he gets the feeling that they don't want that. Not now.
Usually, he's the one stalking the helpless in the night. He can't say he cares for the role reversal.]
Don't let it get to you. [The atmosphere here, he means. Not... whatever else might get Onni in the dark.] I'll stay close.
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It's also a relief when Brook doesn't argue, just says 'okay' and allows Onni to move past him. Squinting into the darkness, Onni pauses just to let himself get accustomed to the dark and then starts moving.
When Brook tells him not to let it get to him, he exhales a rush of breath, and glances back at the stairs, half-tempted to go back down and find an exit there. But he assumes there's probably no such thing down there.]
Good. Stay close to me. And be ready to fight. The things they're saying...they're angry, and ready to fight.
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You understand them?
[It's not doubt, but surprise. He didn't expect these moans and whispers to contain anything to understand.]
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