sticksandbones | MINI EVENT: GHOST RESCUE

A HEARTBEAT BENEATH THE STAIRS

As the season turns, and blood sinks into the ground of the Grove, as monsters with your face haunt the halls, waiting to pounce, something else is creeping into light. Distantly one might see a light in the forest at night, and the next it comes closer. And closer. Until in the treeline you can see it: a pitch black manor that looks as if it’s covered in ash. The trees act as its gates, rebuffing anyone who tries to investigate, and the air smells like rot. Something watches in the windows, but vanishes when you blink.

… But not even this dark manor can stand in the way of one very angry grandfather skeleton, who will, eventually, rattle his teeth and bones in a rallying cry and urge others to follow him, sword in hand. It’s time to storm the castle, and Mr. Bone-Jangles has had enough.

The air within the manor is frigid and biting, and the inside itself is as decrepit as you may expect. Lights and candles can light the way… but only for a few minutes. The wood creaks as if the building is breathing slowly, and sometimes you here a loud thum-thump, as if its unseen heart beats while you explore.

For an already imposing building, inside seems even larger and there’s almost no end in sight as it feels like the halls wind on forever and more and more rooms, from libraries to studies to bedrooms to- … is this room dedicated to WWE Wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson? … Needless to say, there’s a lot to work through, but Bone-Jangles urges you onward.

Wisps of color drift through. Are they your friends? Or something else?

A NIGHTMARE ON YOUR LIPS

And to those who have been locked away for days, perhaps weeks, nothing in this house feels real. Is it a dream? Is it a nightmare? The mere mention of a potential addition from your lips manifests another new room within the manor, but you cannot touch anything. Light hurts and makes you dizzy, while the night is painfully cold. How long has it been? How long will it be?

The burst of life is- new. Exciting. Distantly, you know these people, but the urges of death are whimsical and cruel. Part of you wants to guide them to the attic, where your souls are chained in full to a portrait of you. Break those portraits, and you're free, coming back to life outside, which is what you want, isn't it? Another part of you wants to chase them out, how dare they intrude upon your afterlife? Another yet thinks it’s time to play, but no longer remembers what ‘play’ is- so surely they can dodge the plates and books, right? Right!

And another yet wants the intruders dead. And if not by your hands, then by the demons guarding this world alongside you.

(CODE)

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[She saw that. Just for an instant, but she saw it. Timekeeper had already been peeling away from the group on her own, so she'll gladly take the chance to slip off and follow what she thinks she saw - if it's a trap, she honestly doesn't care.

Up these stairs, hmm? She flips one of the Embroider halves off her back, perching on it to zoom up the stairs by way of floating above them, glancing sharply about for any more glimpses of Dipper.]

[Up, up, up she goes, and it seems like as she turns the corner, there's even more stairs. Stairs that go up past what the mansion should even have for floors. Soon the stairs become more and more worn and decrepit, and it becomes clear TK is being led somewhere specific. The stairs will eventually end rather abruptly.]

[She finds herself faced with an attic pull-down door.]

[What will she do?]

[Hmm, that was suspiciously long. Well, she came into this expecting anything, and honestly? Non-euclidean architecture is barely even on her weird radar. They wiggle time around to create some of that back at the TBD, after all.

Anyway, what else do you do with a pull-down attic door? She lands in front of it, steps to the side to be sure she won't be smacked by any decaying ladders or anything, and casually pulls that rope down.]

[Gonna Winchester mystery mansion this shit. Anyway the ladder comes down, it is old and musty, but looks sturdy enough to climb, even though TK probably doesn't need to.]

[The spooky room looks like an attic, though it's not The Attic because Jami forgot the attic was a relevant location. There can be multiple attics shh.]

[Anyway, this is a strange room. Like an occult storage room with a great big rune painted on the floor and old, dusty, half-used candles dotting the entire place. There are claw marks in the floor, and scorch marks in the wood.]

[And something is watching TK from the shadows.]

[Yeah, she isn't trusting any sort of climbing apparatus with her weight in here regardless of how sturdy it looks, so flying up into the lowercase a attic it is!]

Well now, this certainly looks like something Dipper would do. [Big occult rune on the floor and signs of something dangerous getting summoned? Yeah. Timekeeper's tone is casual, and a little playful - she's halfway sure she's just being toyed with, but why not play along? It's interesting, after all! And... it may still lead to Dipper, whether or not he's the spirit behind all this.] ...Hmm?

[She's just noticed the slightest shuffle from the thing in the shadows, and well. Timekeeper has no fear of such things. She turns towards it and crouches down, holding out a hand and clicking her tongue. Here, creature creature creature!]

[It's a dark shadow that's hard to see- it blends almost seamlessly with the shadows in the room, moving like liquid behind the shelves and boxes. As TK pspspsps the creature, she may catch a glimpse of red. Slits of red, too numerous to be eyes.]

[Something behind her falls over, and there's the sound of uneven footsteps.]

You should go.

[It's Dipper's voice, but there's a strange, gravelly quality to it. Dare she turn around?]

[Does she need to? Yes, it sounds a bit strange, but it's still unmistakably Dipper's voice. Timekeeper does stand again, keeping her eye on the... creature? Creatures? Whatever that is in the shadows, as she taps a finger against her chin.]

Now why would I do that? It is you I am here for, after all.

I made a mistake.

[The creature continues moving in the back of the room, almost as if pacing. TK gets the sense that it is waiting.]

I was just trying to help.

And? If nobody made mistakes I would be quite out of a job!

[She does turn very slightly now, glancing over her shoulder and turning her blind side towards the creature.]

[Dipper is standing behind her but his visage is ...ghastly. He's covered in severe burns up his arms and across the right side of his face, under the cracking of skin and blood are feathers, forcing their way out.]

[He stares forward, the charred right side of his face littered with eyes, all red, glowing.]

I couldn't help him- I made...nothing about this works! I've made a horrible mistake and now everyone is about to pay for it!

Edited 2024-10-19 10:17 (UTC)

[Well, if whatever's in the shadows isn't going to immediately attack her, Timekeeper will turn fully towards Dipper, nodding. She's on high alert - if a move is made, she can still freeze it, she thinks.]

I see, I see... and is this regret about your murder, or is it something long in the past?

[Her smile slices across her face, intensifying dangerously, though there's still a fond look in her eye as she fixes this monstrous version of Dipper with it.]

The former you need not worry about anymore, at the very least.

Corruption ...leads to Beasthood. I should have been better at seeing the problem. I should have acted quicker. If everything falls apart around me I've only got myself to blame-

[And then, for a moment, all of those eyes blink and seem to fixate on her. Seeing her.]

Need not worry...?

[Something seems to have thrown a spanner in whatever memory he might be reliving. The thing in the back ground, it moves stalking the edges of the room until it once again comes into view, now directly behind Dipper. There should be ...interesting similarities about the placement of it's eyes.]

[Her smile wanes, just slightly, at those all too familiar words. She catches herself quickly.]

Of course not. I took care of it for you.

[Timekeeper draws one of the Embroider halves, swinging it swiftly through the air to settle just over Dipper's shoulder, pointed at the face of the shadow creature looming behind him. None of that. She doesn't care if it's part of Dipper, or a reflection of his trauma, or something else entirely. It moves for him, and she'll move first. Time's on her side, after all.]

Do you need me to do the same to this? I certainly wouldn't mind demonstrating.

MINI EVENT: GHOST RESCUE

10/15

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tw: body horror, too many eyes, severe burns

Re: tw: body horror, too many eyes, severe burns

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