A very merry Halloween! [Mingle]

[ourearth]

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

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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

[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."

[catted]

"...I'll stay here, you never know when the signal cuts out." She'd rather come with him, but the signal in this dip is notoriously spotty, and she feels like they'll think she's a prank caller anyway, so good connection will be vital for making it clear what she wants to tell them.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Thanks." He pauses on his way towards the church proper to give her shoulder a squeeze, then strides off again. At least he looks steady on his feet, now, so there's no worry of falling.

Each skeleton he passes gets a narrow look, too, because while it's mostly Amy he's angry about, the rest of them aren't helping, either.

[saveournpcs]

There's nobody in the church itself, but there is an office right next to it in which there's light. The door to the parish office isn't far away, and there's a doorknocker.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Handy, that. Sam strides right on up to the office door and knocks sharply. "Hey. Anybody in there?"

[saveournpcs]

After a bit, the door opens.

A woman in a blue dressing gown that msotly covers pink PJs with yellow bunnies on them stands there gives him a professional smile.

"Yes?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Somebody desecrated the graveyard," Sam says with a kind of brisk anger. "I'm guessing nobody's told you yet."

[saveournpcs]

"Oh for-" she sighs in deep disappointment, yawns, and then straightens up a bit, her voice now matter-of-fact. "Let me guess, it's three graves near the entrance to the churchyard?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Those," Sam agrees tightly. "And just about every other damn grave in the lawn, too. Including my wife's. Somebody excavated the dead."

[saveournpcs]

If he was younger, she would assume a prank.

It just sounds too ridiculous. But with his age... There's the vague thought that maybe there's some form of elderly confusion going on, but that wouldn't stop her from checking it out.

"Let me grab my coat." And once that is done, and shoes have been put on, she steps out.

And stops.

"What the fuck." ...She actually might have said that out loud. Oops?

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Yeah, that's about what my reaction was, only a little less shocked and a little more angry," Sam says, watching her reaction. She does seem genuinely surprised. How else do you get a priest to say fuck, after all, besides really, really surprise them? "So can we call the usual gravediggers and have them come fix this?" While he sniffs around to try and find the scent of who did it.

[saveournpcs]

"...The gravediggers will do their job as soon as they can, I will make sure of that." She just hopes that he will accept what comes next. "But I fear that we'll have to inform the police first. I want all those poor people to be interred again as soon as possible as much as the next person, but we shouldn't destroy evidence so hopefully they can catch the wankers who did this."

She is, for lack of a better word, as furious as him. She's doing her best to stay professional about it, but there's no doubt in her voice that she's about ready to punch whoever did this.

"Do you want to come inside while I make some phone calls? I just boiled the kettle." She won't be able to stop him if he stomps off, but she obviously feels that after a find like this he should have the option to sit down and have a tea.

[scarsolderthanyou]

His lip curls a little, but he manages to keep the growl that wants to rumble out from sounding. That might just disturb the poor priest more. And besides, as much as he hates to admit it, she has a point-- he just doesn't like seeing Amy's poor bones exposed like that. "All right, fine, that makes sense," he admits. Grudgingly. "My daughter's out there still, so I'm going to pass on the tea. But thanks."

[saveournpcs]

"That sounds like a good plan." Family support is for the best with something like this. "If you need me later at all, you can find my phone number on the parish website."

And now she will make phone calls and hope that the police gets here before the press does...

[scarsolderthanyou]

"I'll probably be hanging around here until I see my wife back where she belongs, so if I need you, I'll come knock on your door again," Sam says, a bit dryly. "Thanks."

And with that, he leaves her to her phone calls and heads back out to Mary.