[HH PRP] Scoping the Grounds [Bellamorlex] (Fin)

[medigel]

Quote:

Rolling a 2: ALL DAMAGE DONE BACKFIRES ON THE CHARACTERS THEMSELVES (ie if you do 6 damage to the opponent, you take 6 damage). All your log seems to take second place as a voice calls to you, vague, agitating. It pressures you to attack relentlessly, brashly, without caring about your own wounds or damage done to your allies.

 

[medigel]

Mort felt Alex reach out for him as they separated from the group and and gladly welcomed the sensation - anything to make sure they were rooted in the physical. Because he was sure that if he wasn't careful, he too would slip into the mists like Amrita and Yin and Jackdamnit why did this have to happen? Why did everything have to go and get soured just when they were having a few nights of fun?

It was that sort of anger that was slowly growing in him as they entered the premises. Thor was clenched into a light fist over the fragment piece in its palm, humming almost agitatedly along with its owner. Whispers were still invading his ears, but Mort shook his head to try and will them away. "Why Amityville?" he wondered aloud to Alex in a low voice, eyes scouring the grounds with suspicion. "Even mist takes to taunting now?" First Hunters, then Insanity, and now the Haunted House too was going to play this game?

He wanted to shake with how infuriating and unfair it all was.  

[Seussi]

Keeping his death grip on Mort's arm was pretty much the only thing keeping Alexander grounded at this point. Images kept flashing through his mind, repeating over and over again. The figures in the mists, the students who had transformed into something monstrous right in front of their eyes. Amrita. Yin. His eyelids shut tight as he squeezed back the tears that threatened to flow.

He had to be stronger then this. If there was any hope at all of helping their friends, he could not break down now.

When he reopened his eyes, things had changed. They were no longer at Amity but..but at the Haunted House? How....?

He let his hand fall from Mort's arm, as he stopped moving for just a moment. Mort was speaking, but it's like the words were nothing more then the static of a skellyvision, incomprehensible.

"Mort." The name was slow, drawn out. The zomboil felt dizzy. "Mort. I need you to hit me." He was wavering on his feet, barely in control of his own movements, foggy headed, unable to cope with this situation as it threatened to over take him emotionally and mentally and just completely shut him down. It was somehow even worse then when the students had been captured and taken to the island, because all hope already seemed to be lost. Loneliness, aching and raw, was worming it's way through Alex's stomach.

He closed his eyes again and waited for the impact that would hopefully bring him back to himself.

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

Alex was asking for a hit? Well he got one, no questions asked.

Thor landed against Alex's face with a dull metallic thud; it would have been a straight up punch, but Mort figured that would have been a bit much. So a backhand was his compromise, something to snap his zombro to back into reality just has the hand on his arm kept him grounded - and immediately afterwards his over hand grabbed Alex's shoulder to keep him steady in case he had thoughts of fainting.

"Keep it together," Mort told him. "Are here now. Means can do something." Confidence, Mort, confidence! This was the sort of adversity heroes were born to overcome. "Right now is easy. Just need to check surroundings, s-see what're up against specifically. You good?"

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

The impact came, without warning and a lot faster then he might have expected. But really, he didn't want Mort to go easy on him. He needed a little tough love right about now, to have somebody be in command and to keep him grounded in the reality of what was occurring.

He felt the pain as Thor connected with the side of his face as it thrummed along his jaw, felt himself begin to topple backwards before Mort reached out to steady him with a hand clasped onto his shoulder.

Slowly he opened his eye, and finally he felt and looked more focused. "Ya, ya, I'm good. Where should we start? Did you...did you get a chance to count how many of them there were?" He meant students that had become nothing more then tendrils of fog and insanity taken form, though there had been a countless mass of figures staring towards the school

Ol-j-man

 

[AyeAvast]

As the witch gathered her courage together during her run, she began to fret over the fact that they'd separated. It had actually been a really terrible idea because she wasn't at all sure how she was going to find the zombies again. The fog was thick enough that she couldn't actually see very far in front of her and as she ran, she began to panic.
With all her senses heightened from the variety of occurrences, as well as those ever present voices, it was only natural that Belladonna began to talk to herself.
"Alder heals burns. Angelica quiets coughs, but is bitter and potentially dangerous to Reapers. Anise... Anise, oh uh, what does Anise do--" Belladonna murmured as she jogged, sure that recalling the various properties of plants, in alphabetical order, would help keep her from going insane. But as she became unable to remember exactly what it was about anise, she started to get frustrated. And the frustration made her panic further.

Enough so that when she heard more substantial voices, even ones she wasn't sure of exactly who they belonged to due to their diluted nature, she still turned and rushed toward them. But she was still worried about Anise, so with a shake of her head she darted forward.
And collided with something tall and dead. Not even sure which of the two tall undeads it was, Belladonna instead wrapped her arms around whoever it was.
"Please don't let me go off by myself again." She whined, hands trembling around the zombie.

Ol-j-man

Ha ha look it, I left it open

Seussi

Whoever wants it can has Bells hug XD

 

[medigel]

"Mrr...Not ones in mist," Mort answered with a shake of his head, easing off Alex once he was sure the guy wasn't going to fall. "Students though, err...Yin, Amrita, think saw one or two others too...So three to four b-big ones." Ho boil. Mort had never encountered this sort of insanity before, so he wasn't sure how much power laid with the corrupted students.

But no, confidence! Confidence, Mort, not despair -

Whump.

The zomboil jumped and for the third time that day hefted Thor to pry off whatever was getting on him, but her voice stopped him just as the fist reached the Alex of its swing. There was a moment of awkwardness as he realized what he had almost done before Mort powered the arm down and returned Belladonna's hug tightly. "S'fine, s'fine," he said murmured into her hair. "You're here. You did it, knew you could. S'fine..." He imagined this was all a terrible trial for the witch, having been on the island where she had first died and turned into a hermit for so long; it was a good sign that she had come back at all, and he rewarded that with a quick kiss.

Mort then turned to them both, a hand now on each of their shoulders. "So. Three to four big ones, n-not counting hunters. Can be expecting will come in some capacity with unstable haunted house; might think is time to strike while confused. Either've you encounter something like this before?"

AyeAvast

Group hug anyone?

Seussi

8D

 

[Seussi]

Alex just nodded. "Right, those two for sure." He ran fingers through his hair, effectively giving it reason to stand up in all directions before he sighed, letting his arm fall back down to his side once more. "I can't believe this is happening! Amrita..and Yin, do you think there's a connection between them and...well, you know, what happened to them on the island?" His voice began to hush as he talked about that, because who really knew who could be lurking nearby in the mist....

...And of course, that's when they would suddenly find themselves under hug attack, though the two boils perhaps reacted more strongly then was necessary. Alex's own hands rose up instinctively, fingers curling into claws, ready to tear the flesh off of whoever was accosting them, his own heart leaping in his chest.

A flash of red hair, arms wrapping around Mort. "Belladonna?" Alexander visibly relaxed. This was okay. This was good.

And now a moment to get the ghoul up to speed on what they had just been discussing.

"Well...there was that one ghoul, on the horseman islands. She was attacking everyone, and some of her friends tried to talk to her, but it was like she didn't know them, or didn't understand what they were saying. She was massive, and scary, and when we finally managed to take her down she....she turned to stone."

Is that what would happen to Yin, if somebody destroyed him while he was in the form that he was in now? The thought of it was so painful it almost made Alexander's chest burst. At the time, on the islands, he and Yin had helped to take down the ghoul, despite her friends telling them to stop. Alexander had had a moment then, to think about what he would do to save Yin if he was like that, if there was a chance that he would die permanently...

He just didn't even want to think about it right now.

And then, out of nowhere, Alexander's brain decided to remind him of something completely off topic. Of a note on his dorm room door the last time he had stopped in, just before heading back out to clean up the festival. After all, he had all night before.

"Jack damnit!" He groaned, hands coming up to cover his face. "My exam. Guys I'm supposed to be doing my exam soon. There was a note on my door. I think..I think I have to leave. But I'll be back as soon as it's over! I'm sure it'll only take like..maybe an hour at the most?" He really had no idea, having not taken an advancement exam before. Though there was a chance that with this fog the exam might have been cancelled...but was that a risk Alexander was willing to take? This could be his only chance for a while to become a hob!

Ol-j-man

AyeAvast

 

[AyeAvast]

Glad to be somewhere safe, somewhere she knew she could be protected, Belladonna was less inclined to let Mort go. The kiss inclined her to this notion further, so for a few moments longer she stood there, head pressed into the front of his hoodie and just held him. But the two zombies were talking, and really, she needed to be listening to what they were saying. It sounded awfully important, about people fighting friends and turning into stone and--
"But did the ghoul on The Island look anything like Amrita and... Yin?"
Finally the witch let go of Mort to step back and place a soft hand on Alexander's arm. She didn't want to reach up and make it obvious that she was placing a hand on him, so the space just above his elbow would do. It was a small touch, enough to know that shew as there. As awful as all this was for her, it must be at least five times harder for him.
"So that's... Four Fuzzies," Momentarily Belladonna stopped and flapped a hand at them, hoping they would understand that 'Fuzzy' meant the students who had gone all over grey and generally fuzzy, "...And who know how many Hunters. But the real question is, are they being turned Fuzzy too?"

And before she could say much else on the matter, Alexander said something about...
"An exam? At a time like this?" Involuntarily she pursed her lips, but when he took a few steps away, the witch followed. "What, no! Alexander! You can't leave! Amityville isn't even there right now, its all greyed out and--" But he was gone before Belladonna could even finish. Determined to be heard, she took a few more steps forward and cupped one hand around her mouth.
"You at least better get the teacher's pin!"
It was supposed to be encouraging, but being so tightly wound from the voices and fog and general fear of everything going on, it sounded a bit threatening.
"Guess its just you and me!" The witch chirped as she retraced her steps back to Mort. Now that they were partially alone she reached up to place a quick kiss to him. "Don't let me get lost, alright? I don't... I don't really want to go this alone."
It was as close to admitting a weakness as the witch was prepared for at this time. With a dramatic motion she hopped forward into the fog, prepared to battle whatever might come their way. Suddenly the little space she had put between them felt much larger than it really was and she stopped before they were too far separated.

Belladonna whirled around and stared into fog, thick enough that she could only see to the end of her fingertips when she held a hand out. For a moment the witch only rolled her eyes at the strangeness of being suddenly alone, pushing herself forward a few more steps.
"Moooort~" She called out, one hand stuck out in front of her as she tired to find her way back.
And realized, after a few more steps in the direction she thought he'd been in, that she was now alone. That she had also gotten herself lost in the small space that had separated them. That she had managed to lose the only person able to keep her sane through all this.
A small whimper managed its way up through her clenched teeth, but Belladonna only continued to step forward into the fog. The voices got louder, angrier and nastier, but as she kept on walking, eyes wide for any sign of her beloved, she only began to talk to herself once more.
"Oh. Anise can calm an upset stomach, or upset a calm stomach. It can also be crushed to induce sleeping and ward off nightmares."
A bitter laugh echoed in her ears, and she was not sure if it was her own or not.

[Exiting to ???]

Seussi

biggrin

Ol-j-man

biggrin

 

[medigel]

Tentacle ghoul on the island? He'd heard about that . . . Riley. He vaguely remembered seeing her stone form as well in the aftermath, carted off by Boogiemen. "S'connected, m'sure of it," Mort said with a nod. "But the Riley thing . . . Somehow was cured; had booth up at Fright Night n' everything. So can't give up hope for them either!" He gave a burst of optimism and even a smile as he said that, because all of them needed a little light to hold in this grey hopelessness.

At the mention of the exam, Mort blinked with some surprise but still lightly slapped the zomboil's back. "Well, get to it then!" he grinned. "N' come back ready to take on Coats n' Horsemen n' whatever else w-wants piece've us, got it? Good luck, bro~" As much as he didn't want to separate, it was better to have two third years around in this unknown. They had skellyphones too, so it wasn't like they couldn't keep in touch.

Afterwards, as Belladonna said her goodbyes and came back, Mort gave a soft sigh and pulled her in, returning her kiss with a deeper one. "Promise won't let you. Just don't go too fast." Dread was threatening to fill him and it was translating into clinginess once more; she had to slide through his arms all the way before she was let go. He shuffled after her as Belladonna hopped through the fog like a bouncing red-headed rabbit, trying to wave away the fog as it became thicker and thicker -

- too thick. The witch's form was obscured in seconds as he lagged behind, and with a rush of anxiety jogged forward to where he thought she had been moments before.

Emptiness. Nothing but the whispers of Home.

s**t. s**t! The mist was purposefully separating them. Five seconds after his so-called promise and already Bells was lost. He was the worst Jackdamn boilfriend with the worst Jackdamn luck, and now he bet he was going to pay the price for this.

"Bells . . .?" Trying not to panic, Mort strained his ears to listen for her voice and his eyes to catch her red hair, finding himself enveloped by the fog before long as he pursued someone to anchor him down in this awful gray world.

(( Exiting ))  

[Seussi]

"Yes, at a time like this." Alex frowned, shaking his head a little as though to clear it. "I can't just...pretend that the world outside of all of this has stopped." He explained.

"And Amrita..Yin...if they are what I think they are then there isn't anything we can do for them right now." He sighed, his arms raising then collapsing in a half shrug.

"If it turns out my class has been cancelled, I'll just be back all the faster. Stay safe, both of you, and stay together." With one last parting glance and a small, sad smile to both of them, he turned around and departed into the fog, trying to find his way back out and back into the school.

((Exit))