A very merry Halloween! [Mingle]

[ourearth]

Date: 31st of October
Characters: Open!
Warning: Non-sexual desecration of formerly buried corpses

---

On the morning of Halloween, when people first step out of their houses, they will almost step into something.

A bucket of water. Every flat and every house in the Mossgate Boundary has a bucket placed in front of its entrance door (and sometimes, especially in Folkton and Moss Manor, the back door too), in which scary apples are floating. A little sign taped to the bucket reads: Have fun bobbing!.

But that's not the only thing that happened. The second thing that people will notice is that there are billions of spiders of all sizes crawling all over the town and villages, the military base, the Manor House... everywhere. And they certainly did their job - trees, lanterns, the higher attractions on the pier, and everything else that is high all over Mossgate Council is covered in thick layers of cobweb.

And lastly... those who pass by a church will notice something about the graveyards around them. Namely, that someone placed skeletons on top of most of the graves... Awfully real looking ones. Really, really awfully real looking ones. To some of them, the soil of the graveyard still clings, and the graves underneath them are in a state that betrays that they were dug up during the night. DNA tests would show that, indeed, the skeletons belong to the individuals buried in the graves.

Comments

[fairfeste]

"Sorry..." They put a hand to their head but try to shoot him a reassuringly smile. It probably doesn't work, since they suddenly really don't feel well. "I just got kind of dizzy all of a sudden. I probably need to eat something." Just maybe not apples.

[spaghettimonster]

Russell doesn't really answer right away, wobbling in his crouched position before he surrenders to the inevitable and sits down.

"Uh," he attempts, reaching up to rub at his ears, then glances up towards his flatmate. The dizziness isn't as bad as the last time, and he's not remembering anything new, but still.

"Did you... hear that? Sorry, I couldn't hear what you said, everything went a little..."

[runs]

...I'm not going to show you where I live or go to school.

But you can buy me a hot chocolate at the Starbucks, [she offers generously. Never say that she can't be a perfect little opportunist.

There's something else, though. That makes her curious.] You looked really absent there for a moment.

[catted]

"It's no problem at all. I've offered similar before, though not due to the same reasons, obviously, so I could hardly not mention it there. ...Even if it was more information about myself than I strictly wanted to give at the time," she adds a bit ruefully. That wasn't very good self-protection.

And then the echo hits, and she just stares blankly at Sadie for a good long moment, trying to figure out where exactly she is and what exactly is going on.

"...What? Oh. Sorry." No, still not fully there, but the apology is fairly automatic.

[catted]

She will be furious as well when her more immediate worry about her father fades. Right now, she just wants to make sure that he gets through this safely. Because if what they think happened to her mother's grave really happened, she is much more worried for his physical and mental health than she is for her mother's body - as much as she cares about that, her father is still alive and here.

"Do you think it is related?" She tries to focus on him, but can't keep her eyes from straying to where she knows her mother's grave to be.

the wonders of rp timelines

[catted]

"Maybe just a certain attractiveness to spiders, so they congregate in your wider surroundings?" It feels a lot smaller immediately if there is no conscious control of it...

Not that any of all of this feels remotely reasonable.

[spaghettimonster]

Somehow it's easier to keep from falling over, even with the dizziness, as though he suddenly weighs less and gravity's working less to hold him down. Whatever the reason, it's convenient, and it gives Russell the time to shake his head after the hollow pressure fades.

"I, uh, I'm fine. I just..." It's probably not convincing, but he's not about to explain to a stranger what he just experienced, at least not without knowing they're going through similar things. Not even as he struggles to separate what he just remembered from what's been happening. "Did one of those skeletons move?"

[channingchanningchanning]

The hollowness and heartbeat are disorienting, but the wave of dizziness is what does him in.

He drops the bone and sways, whining in sudden distress - something is WRONG, and he abruptly doesn't feel too hot.

Re: cw attempt to kiss someone without their prior consent

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie's eyes widen in surprise as the small dog starts furiously wriggling about in her grasp, causing her to change up her hold alongside the mantra of 'Dog, not cat. Do not drop.'.

Chad placing his paws on her chest and booping her face with his nose was unexpected but kind of cute, Sadie slowly pulling her face back and scratching Chad behind the ears. "Hello to you too Chad. Did you get away from your owners again boy?"

[channingchanningchanning]

...He's pretty sure that that was not the kind of reaction that he was going for. Though if from himself or her or the world in general, he isn't sure. But he feels that something should have happened.

Aside from being asked if he got away from his owners again. Which he did, but come on. They have their own lives to live, and THERE ARE SO MANY BONES HERE!

...Talking about which. He tries to crane his neck and spot where his prize ended up. He dropped it somewhere...

[vernal_miss]

One such group composed of children at the end of their primary school years comes near along the street, and a single member of the party is showing more attention to the surroundings than the path for trick or treating. Candy is nice, and she has her bag filling up, but missing a house or two is okay by her if it means she can get pictures here and there to use for her art later.

So when she catches sight of a witch costume with a cat on lead for a walk, she cannot resist the opportunity. Patting a friend on her shoulder as an alert that she'll catch back up to them, she slows down long enough to separate from the group to hurry at a jog down the street towards the cat and its owner.

Coming up from behind Sadie, she tries to fall into step with her with her pace dropping to a fast walk. One hand on her hat to keep it in place as she looks up to Sadie, she asks for her attention while she looks through her bag, "Excuse me! I love your costume and your cat. Could I please take your picture?"

[vernal_miss]

Head dropping back all the way to look up to her grandfather as she hears that tone in his voice, she looks puzzled, "No, I don't think so... I have my gloves on, and I've been using a stick to get them in the jar." With a horde of spiders about today, Nel does not want to take any chance of having to ask for her mum to treat a spider bite when it's so obvious she should be careful.

Gaze turning back to the spider in the jar as she wonders why this spider got such a reaction, her eyes widen at the way the spider looks back at them. The wash of that odd feeling comes over her, and her arms slacken to bring the jar back down into her lap slowly as she hears that heartbeat, yet unlike the last time, she keeps herself steady and is able to shake it off. Her hat had slipped somewhat looking up, and an actual shake of her head makes it fall off, but she's no worse for wear if a little more confused than before.

Looking suspiciously at the spider in the jar now in her lap, she speaks to it, "...did you do that?"

[vernal_miss]

When no growl is made and the dog stays still, she decides to venture a couple strides closer. Not quite close enough to touch him or his find, but enough to see that what the dog had been dragging is in fact a very large bone nearly as long as her own legs. The sight of it gives her pause, but not enough time to think too much on it as quite suddenly the dog drops the bone to begin whining and wobbling.

Concerned for the dog, she moves closer still as she slides her bag off her shoulder to the ground to leave behind and crouches down to put a hand on the back of the dog to try to steady it, "Whoah, okay. Easy now... You don't look so good. Are you sick?"

[channingchanningchanning]

He's not going to shy away from the hand and instead whine pitifully. What is going ON?

<Action/Network>

[tobodlygo]

I.

Nope. No. Nuh-uh. Jim is already on the goddamned Air Force One to 'Fuck This Shit, Texas' as soon as he sees the spread of Cobwebs that have appeared overnight all along his windows and door frames.

This is his house, you eight legged motherfuckers, and he will douse the whole thing in petrol, sit in the middle of it and light a match if needs be. Not today you little shits.

Anyone walking to and from the train station today might spy a man dressed in his Pajamas, work boots and a hardhat (Safety-first) absolutely demolishing the spiderwebs around his house with Jerry-rigged flamethrower. (Okay, maybe not so safe.)


II.Network.Written Text

Hey. Hey guys? Hey. FUCK SPIDERS.

III.Halloween Evening.

It's safe to say that after that whole debacle, Jim really isn't in the mood for going out to any parties. He's never been one for the whole holiday to begin with, and frankly, hearing about the things that are going on outside, he feels vindicated about his opinion.
Instead, he's going to binge watch netflix on his sofa.

If anyone wanted to come and get him, this would be the time to do it.

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie's head jolts up in surprise, not having heard Nel's approach as she focused on digging through her bag, and Sadie's hat slips to sit at a jaunty angle. She stops in her tracks and carefully straightens her hat with her free hand before smiling down at Nel.

"Thank you," She blushes happily, "I love your scarecrow costume too, I've not seen a scarecrow yet today so it's very unique." Sadie calls Tigger over from where he is sniffing at the grass next to the pavement.

"Come on Tigger, come and get your picture taken."

[vernal_miss]

As the dog seems alright with the contact, Nel brings her knees together and shifts forward to kneel on her shoes to sit. Hand staying in one spot until the dog stops swaying so much, she then slowly starts to pet the dog with her hand, smoothing down his fur in longer and longer strokes that work over his shoulders then up towards his head between his ears. Each pass of her hand ends a good centimeter away from the base of his tail.

"Maybe you need to lie down? Oh um... Down?" Right. Dogs don't talk, but maybe this one is trained to that command to lie down.

[vernal_miss]

A quick turn of her hips side to side makes her skirt open a little in the motion, showing off the patches slightly better as Nel beams at the compliment, "Thank you! I was going to be scarier but burlap is too itchy and the sticks didn't look right." Next year she might still be able to make the creepy doll costume if she doesn't think of something more spooky.

Sliding one handle of her treat bag down from her shoulder, she digs around in the bag to retrieve her camera and disengages the shutter to wake it up. The bag handle slides back into place with a raise of that arm as she adjusts the camera settings. Once she has it prepared, she takes several steps back to get more of Sadie into the frame. Peeking through the viewfinder, she takes one half step more back and lowers the camera to let Sadie decide how to pose with her cat.

"Tigger's a good name! Does Tigger like to bounce?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

"It's a pretty big joke, if that's true. I'm not sure even this many spiders can make this many webs in one morning, and I'm pretty sure at least some species of spider are territorial, so they should be trying to kill each other." He eases up another branch, trying to get closer to the web he's studying.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Probably. It had to do with bones, too." And apparently the revelation that whoever he's seeing visions of has multiple forms. At least two, it seems. Weird. He puts that aside for a moment, though, and swipes his hand down his face once to get himself focused again.

Which means angry again. "So we need to get the person in charge of this graveyard. See if they have any kind of cameras that might have caught whoever did this, and get it fixed. Amy shouldn't be out here like this, dammit. None of them should. They're people, not Halloween decorations."

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie sighs as she watches the Pomeranian's attention drift back to their bone-filled surroundings. She continues to scratch his ear and takes a nice big step over the fallen femur. "Come on, let's get you home. your family must be worried about you."

[warped_replica]

The possibility of having a doctor available to consult is a boon to any Numbered, and Benjiro especially recognizes the value after he had to interfere with the nursing kit belonging to Sadie's mother to protect her secret the day they were out sailing. Not to mention having to decline a physical examination after what happened to him in September at school.

With one apple already collected, the task is put on hold when he hears Sadie ask if the doctor is alright. The mention of the Echo is not shocking, given that he had seen that post on the network, even if the timing is unexpected. They usually are out of the blue.

Benjiro watches the way Mrs. Tilly still looks after she answers from habit more than recovery, and he moves to step up next to her with the apple set down to retrieve again later. Reaching to place one hand on the woman's shoulder, he holds the other out in front of her at the ready, "Mrs. Tilly? The door is behind you."

[warped_replica]

All the more reason to make certain their mentor is okay.

Traces of heat build under the facemask and the strip of fake bandage over his nose and cheekbones when Sadie leans to his shoulder, and it intensifies as she relates being closer to him to being safer. It is no doubt he would do all he could to protect her if the need arose, but imparting security is an unexpected compliment. He smiles for it and runs his thumb lightly over the back of her hand as he slows their pace minutely to help her stay there.

“You and me both... It’s outside the laws we know and have studied, but perhaps there are rules to all this. Walter had suggested first time experiences are linked to Echoes, and that seems to hold true most of the time. Aside from the aurora, the giant cake, and that bald man... We simply need more data to discern others.” Though his voice is calm generally, the mention of the mystery man is spoken with tension born of an ember of anger.

[warped_replica]

That distant impression of contact at his shoulder helped him to keep silent, and he blinks his wide eyes as he looks to Walter next to him away from the grave. He takes in a slow, deeper breath as he nods in confirmation, “Yeah... From the other one. Apparently he and his brothers got attacked by some skeletons at a door. Red light... They seemed mindless but they were not stopping even being broken into pieces.”

Gaze turning out to scan the graves around them, he takes what comfort he can that these are not armed and currently immobile.

“Sorry, let’s get back to it,” he offers in apology for the alarm. Bringing his backpack around, he fishes out a pair of disposable gloves to pull onto his hands and rolls up the sleeves of his hoodie.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"That particular spider is very poisonous," Sam warns. "You should be more c--"

He pauses when the mini-echo hits him, and while he isn't as dizzy as usual, he does sit himself down rather than risk falling on his ass. "Okay. Well. No vision that time."

However, should Nel glance over at him, she'll see that his skin is no longer the well-tanned peachy color it usually is. It's gray. A kind of ashy, muted gray, in fact.