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]

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.

[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.

[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]

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.

[fairfeste]

Feste absolutely does not notice, a little too caught up. They're kind of surprised Nel hadn't said anything... they're not sure if they should be impressed or worried about when she hits teenage years.

"Yeah... I guess so," they say, still staying at their phone. This is a lot, ok.

[iamnotgod]

Both, Feste. When in doubt, go for both.

"... You want to sit down anywhere?" Walter asks, keeping his gaze on Feste for now, instead of nervously gazing around like he feels like he should.

It's probably just nerves. Probably.

[fairfeste]

Feste shakes their head, a little more vigorously than necessary in order to get themselves out of this. "No... No, I'm ok. I just. Don't really know what to do with this."

[iamnotgod]

"Welcome to the club, then, Feste," Walter says, and can't help an ironic smile as he does so.

"We're mostly left making things up as we go along."

[fairfeste]

"Great." Not great. They like clubs where people know that they're doing. There's a bit of a pout on their face now. "So... what? We know nothing?"

[iamnotgod]

"Not nothing, exactly. We know this effect is limited to within six miles of the Mossgate river, one doesn't have to have been born in Mossgate to be affected, and," Walter hurriedly explains,

"Whenever accessing the Network, anyone who doesn't have a Number can't tell anything is suspicious. It only looks like words, or whatever we're working on, or a normal phone call depending on what you're using."

He sighs.

"But as for who or what is causing us to be like this... that's a bit of a blank wall."

[fairfeste]

Walter is saying words, and they are constructed in a logical order, and yet somehow he's still not making any sense. So Feste just blinks at him again.

"...Right." They totally got that. Definitely. They're definitely still not super lost. "So, what. It's magic or something?"

/pats Feste on head/

[iamnotgod]

A part of him defaults to 'Magic is science we just don't understand,' but Walter doesn't know enough about what's going on to feel that's the right answer either.

He really doesn't like that fact.

"Possibly."

And he's just pinching the bridge of his nose now.

they are very confused

[fairfeste]

They huff again. This is not a good answer. Even though they're the one that came up with it. "So... now what...? We just. Wait for more weird stuff to happen?"

understandably

[iamnotgod]

"'Waiting' is one word for it. There's no guaranteed way to predict an Echo - though they most often occur for first-time experiences, and apart from events like the aurora this past June no one thing triggers them for everyone.

"If we're looking for clues by picking apart bizarre happenings, though... I think this one counts."

[fairfeste]

"An Echo? Is that what you call what just happened?" That seems like a dumb name, but apparently they don't get to name it. Oh well. That's probably for the best. "So... do you think all of this stuff is related?"

[iamnotgod]

"I'd have said something more like 'flashbacks' or 'visions' if people were only getting memories of other people's lives. But there's definitely more to it than that, so we're stuck with a broader term."

Which was slightly retreading some of what he's explained already, but ah well.

"I think I'm stuck saying yes to that, much as it bugs me to say it."

He does Not Like sounding like a conspiracy theorist, no sir.

[fairfeste]

This is awful. They're going to be paranoid about all sorts of things now. "But... that doesn't make this make sense. Any of it." They wave a hand at the cobwebs again.

[iamnotgod]

And about eight hours from now Walter will be a wreck, but he has no way of knowing that. 8'D

"Some of it is probably easier to digest if you believe in a higher power, but-"

He quashes the impulse to reach for the webbing himself.

"I haven't exactly had the best history with that sort of thing."

He sounds, if anything, a little apologetic.

[fairfeste]

Feste shrugs, non-committal. They're not quite sure how they feel about all that with a higher power and everything, so they have longer opted to not think about it and to clumsily change the topic whenever it comes up.

"I mean... I dunno. I'm not sure a lot would make this easier." It's really weird.

[iamnotgod]

"That, I agree on. Having people you can talk to has helped, though - if any one of us had to go this alone..."

He shakes his head just a shade more rapidly than 'normal human rate', before stopping himself.

[fairfeste]

Oh goodness. "I feel like, if it was as weird as you say it is and I was alone, I would be pretty sure that I was going crazy." As it is they've felt weirdly out of it since they've gotten the number rattling around their head.

[iamnotgod]

"Any occasion with dissociation is horrible enough on its own, if you ask me," Walter says, in utter agreement.

[fairfeste]

Ah. That's why it's bothering them so much.

"....Yeah. That's a good point." Agh, why this.

[iamnotgod]

Another hard sigh.

He doesn't feel the need to ask why Feste's agreeing, at any rate.

"We can... keep in touch, okay? Off-Network, if you'd prefer."

Because Ben's smart tactic can work for others too.

[fairfeste]

Feste nods, a little meekly. "That might be helpful." They really don't want to just go to their mum with questions about this whole thing... and they suspect they're not going to want to share all of their new memories and things with her, either.