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

[iamnotgod]

"Whoever decided all of that was a good idea was utterly bonkers."

Given their current situation in Mossgate, however, the two of them are only somewhat better.

Walter holds his breath in anxious anticipation as Ben starts putting pressure on the bone.

"Checking for artificial aging, or the real deal?" he asks, gaze flickering up to the gravestone.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Maybe they're drugged spiders, hopped up on some kind of stimulant to make them spin more than usual," Sam muses, squinting upwards. "Should probably have brought my glasses." He's got the typical glasses that one needs for reading when one gets older.

[scarsolderthanyou]

He'll explain later, if she asks. Right now he's focused squarely on getting his wife properly reburied. "You call the police and I'll check at the church for a caretaker," Sam decides. "Or call the police and come with me while I check the church."

[scarsolderthanyou]

He blinks at her. "Not yet, I have a cape and fake teeth at home, for when kids come by the house, but... why you askin', honey?"

[fairfeste]

"Can you drug spiders?" Feste is just going to... linger over here by the base of the tree. They're ready to call 999 if necessary.

[fairfeste]

There is a long, long moment where Feste just stares. They think that's probably justified because--

"Are you crazy?"

The way they say it is not accusatory- they just sounds genuinely curious. Because that sounds pretty crazy.

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie had been crouched down near one of the skeletons, trying to get a closer look at the gravestone when she overhears Seth's comment.

"Really?!" She shifts back slightly. "Are you sure?!"

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie's breath catches in her throat at how...peaceful the sensation was this time. It didn't feel like the usual plummet in her stomach, this time it felt oddly comforting, her skin prickling up in goosebumps at the phantom sensation of being hugged. The thudding dies down, but the tingling feeling just underneath her skin remains as Sadie becomes aware that she is holding something. A large, red gem, almost perfect in its clarity except for its shape and the strange symbol carved into it.

However, instead of examining it closer, Sadie immediately shoves the stone into her satchel as she watches Walter pale dramatically. One step takes her to his side and she gently grabs his arm, her other free hand coming up to rest on his back, rubbing gentle circles into it in a mirror of how Walter had helped her the last time they both received an Echo together.

"Walter, focus on my voice. You're fine, you're here with me and I will do whatever you need okay?"

[dragoonrouge]

"It's nice." Sadie admits, "It feels like we aren't alone, and the support, knowing that the others are also trying to work it out and that we don't have to do this by ourselves. hell, if it was just the two of us, or even just us and Walter...I honestly don't think we'd be coping as well as we are at this point."

Sadie grins, "How great is it that your neighbour is a doctor! I mean, it's sad that she and her daughter are now involved but think of how much safer it'll be for us if something happens. Now all we need to do is hunt down a dentist and an optometrist and we'll both have our specialist needs sorted."

[iamnotgod]

"That'd be the easy way out."

Said as flatly as possible.

"But I've been trying to not get into anything crazy for well over ten years by this point - if there was a sane explanation for this, we'd have found it by now. If it was just me, I'd have gone back to London."

He shakes his head.

"But nope, this is just... reality, now. That sense of hollowness hits you, you hear a heartbeat - next thing you know your eyes or your voice has changed, or you can run faster than the proverbial speeding bullet."

[iamnotgod]

For Walter, the sensation's more like a hotcoldhotcold - the warm, comforting embrace versus the totality of the unavoidable, self-inflicted how could hetheyit have been so STUPID- dissolution of self, the everything and the nothing, the-

"- okay?"

Walter twitches, Sadie's voice coming to him as if from a long distance away, just another channel, another feed he can't turn off, he-

"Nononononononono..."

That's his voice, coming out in more of a squeak, trying to pull his hands close to his head to shut everything out. Sadie's grasp stops him short, but only just.

That gem is going to have to wait a while to be analyzed, unfortunately.

[tobodlygo]

Oh. Oh! It's Walter. Walter seems to be mumbling about something and something about him.
He holds out the hand he's not been using to shove cocoa pops straight in his mouth, waiting.

[iamnotgod]

Offering the hand appears to have some effect - Walter stumbles forward, clambering forward at an increasing speed-

And then flops down on the couch. He's not in cocoon by any means, but he can feel the duvet and at least it's soft??

"Mmph."

[fairfeste]

Oh, right. Walter did also say something about writing the number now. They sort of ignored that, in favor of assuming crazy.

"That's, like. Super creepy. Really super creepy." They don't like it. Not one bit. But... they'll pull out their phone, frowning as they type in the number that's been swimming around their head for weeks.

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie would happily admit to herself that she was very concerned and just a tiny bit freaked out. Not that she would let that sway her resolve to help Walter. But it was something she was aware of even as she tried to think of what could be happening to Walter.

She pulls Walter fully into a hug, rubbing his back gently and starts to purr. She stays quiet aside from that, just remains a physical anchor for him until he comes out of whatever the Echo has done.

[saveournpcs]

"You would in fact not be, as the fire could easily spread."

Just to start with the very basics. She eyes the flamethrower hissing and steaming along on the ground.

"Should any of those trees have caught fire, you would not have been able to stop it from spreading to buildings."

[warped_replica]

"They went there out of necessity. A friend had lost her brother behind the door and when she tried to follow, the light appeared," he recounts with his brow furrowing slightly at the essence of worry in the memory. He hopes it turned out okay.

"Essentially," he confirms for Walter, and it takes only seconds more before he hears the first crackle. Pressure released, he examines the bone under where he had his fingers. A slight, hairline fracture now present, Benjiro feels more certain, "Brittle. That didn't take much pressure at all."

Laying the hand down, he moves on to scanning the uncovered legs of the skeleton, and gingerly turns them at the hip to look more completely around each of the larger bones. Nothing apparent about the legs, he then looks to the skull, peering in through open sockets and gaps in the bone.

"Walter, can you get my flashlight out? Front pocket."

Like the stunned silence of Mike Wazowski

[vernal_miss]

The color is not makeup, so that means... Ornella clams up briefly with the alternative explanation eliminated, her lips pressing into a thin line and her jaw shutting tight in a muted squeak. Wrestling in her head about what to do or say, she instead blurts it out with a nervous shrug of her shoulders, voice hushed so only he can hear her, “...youchangedcolor.”

II - Network

[vernal_miss]

[Neat, bubbly handwriting appears in response, if slightly slowly.]

Are you scared of spiders?

[iamnotgod]

"No argument."

It's more of a grumble than a statement by this point, but Walter shakes his head and sighs.

"Right, right. What are you seeing, right now? On the phone?"

Though it could also be audio.

[vernal_miss]

“Bluh. Two layers underneath would be too warm for trick or treat. Was it a Halloween costume too?” she expects. It would seem her costume is sufficient in uniqueness and quality despite her set backs during the design process. “I do like how this one turned out.”

Observing as the young lady signals to her cat once to bring Tigger hurrying into a leap up onto her shoulder, those brown eyes widen in wonder. She stares dumbfounded for a solid two seconds as the cat then perches half on each shoulder. “....that is the best thing I’ve seen all night!” Cat training seems magical to this child, and her delighted smile shows it. She would clap, but there’s no time as her witch model strikes a pose. Camera brought up, she assists the balance of focus and lighting and takes the shot without the flash, relying on a nearby lantern. She has taken enough pictures of the cats at home to know better.

Lowering the camera she reviews the photo on the screen with that smile still in place. However, Nel pauses as she notices not two shining eyes, but four. Her eyes are just like Tigger’s, which means...

“....Sadie?” There’s a tone of eagerness as she asks the name from the network.

[fairfeste]

Feste is looking at it, frowning. "Some sort of audio post, I think?"

He pushes play on it, listening- and then jaw dropping as he hears two very familiar voices. "Is that Nel? And Mum?!"

[iamnotgod]

The purring, oddly, helps more, Walter's hyperventilations slowing down into deeper breaths.

There's no filter, there's no filter, this is not now...

For one second he just stares ahead, trying to take in what's around him is it too much is it too much is it going to happen again?.

Then another second.

He doesn't scream, though his breath hitches again.

[iamnotgod]

"Not that - why would someone keep that many skeletons in one place, only to animate them to attack people?"

He lets out a huff of breath.

"I can only hope that the friend's brother was saved from that fate," he adds softly, inadvertently voicing Ben's thought.

He gingerly moves forward at the instruction, lifting it out deftly to hand it over to Benjiro.

"Better not be a spider in there..."

Since there's nothing to keep them out either.

[iamnotgod]

Walter hesitates for what feels all-too-noticeable... to his perception of time, anyway.

Feste may or may not catch it, given how distracted they've just become.

"Yes. That'd be their first interaction with the Network, too. You should probably tell them," he continues.

"Have all your cards on the same table and whatnot."

Feste could troll their family, perhaps, but given that their Mum is involved that would probably backfire terribly.