[!][Haunted House][5 vs ???] This is Never a Drill...

[Azure Desiderium]

...in Amityville.

HH Battle Status

ALL DAMAGE HAS NO MODIFIER (ie: you don't need to subtract -6 ). You feel something brush against you, unsettling as it literally envelops you in a blanket of cold. You feel stronger but more distant, as if the battle around you is happening to someone else...

 

[Azure Desiderium]

Oh yes. Sharra was a professional. He'd gone charging in, not even looking to see if Aksaja was following him. It had really seemed the thing to do at the time...and now, their target, the Jack-damned haunted house looming up out of the fog, grey and entirely foreign, seemed to be locked up tight. Clacking claws together rather nervously, he took a few steps closer, best to survey the scene, though the fog, as it was wont to do, hampered all visibility. "Just can't have a good ol' escapade without the stuff." A half-hearted complaint, as he was seriously starting to doubt his own sense of judgement.

That is, if he didn't have a mission to accomplish. Turning, he decided to wait, wait and listen, green eyes seeming to glow 'neath blond lashes as he tuned in to the sounds of the mist, the chill of it seeming to seep into him. Just as he remembered it, it was as though he was floating amidst another world entirely, a world of nightmare that even a Halloweener couldn't fully fathom. Geeze. Not like they could just have a normal little festival around here, but at least this time doom had waited, before raining on their parade.

That dragon was taking too long. Cupping hands to his mouth, the demon boil attempted to summon his friend. "Aksaja!" Might as well lead him in the right direction.  

[Nio Love]

"..se wait, please wait, anyone, please-" Freya was walking, very nervously, into the fog. She'd come in after everyone had started making their way in, or out, and she couldn't find anyone she knew. There was no reason why she should have walked into the fog, but she couldn't help herself. She was lost, in more ways than one, and she could hear those monsters that had been students. She could hear them calling for home.

Her lower lip jutted out, and she paused. This was a mistake, she shouldn't be out here alone. What if he found her? What if any of them did..

She was an easy target.

"Please, anyone is theres, hallo?" Her voice got significantly quieter as she suddenly feared she'd be getting the wrong kind of attention.  

[Manda]

Aksaja thought that he was right behind Sharra when the nergal started forward, but somewhere along the way, he must have lost track of him. Because suddenly there was fog. More fog, everywhere, and a familiar Haunted House looming up out of it. Tendrils of white drifted here and there, seeming to form shapes and figures, only to break apart again. One fist clenched at his side, sparks dancing about his fingers . . . unsure which direction to go.

Then he heard Sharra yelling his name, as well as several other voices. Orienting himself in that direction, he started walking - quickly, looking around a bit nervously. Where did the students taken over by the fog go? Could this be some sort of trick? Then he spotted something glowing green and familiar in the dimness and moved just a bit faster to finally stop by Sharra's side. "Sorry. Thought I was right behind you."

Frowning then, he narrowed golden eyes. "Is someone else there?" he called out.  

[Zoobey]

Silence.

And then slowly, the fog curled and uncurled, a cat stretching its claws lazily. A predator waiting.

"There is noone here." A voice, only Askaja could hear, practically coiling itself around his mind, a thick blanket that made everything else seem more vague, distant. Unimportant. "Why should they care anyway? You are worthless, you are weak, you are unwanted. They plan to leave you here you know, leave you here as a sacrifice because you are weak. You could get lost here forever and noone would care."

Seiji would hear another voice, at first more an emotion, of pure jealousy than actual words. The sensation overtook him for a second, one that would even leave himself confused. "She laughs at you you know. Your so-called ghoulfriend. You should ask her. She's been with others, boils way better than you. She only keeps you because you're her puppet, her decoration. Puppet is as puppet does..."

Beejoux

Manda

 

[Manda]

The lightning dragon frowned as the fog seemed to close in about him tighter, brushing against him. He shivered, feeling as if ghostly fingers were plucking at his hair and clothing. Then he heard a voice. A voice that whispered terrible things, horrible suggestions.

"No," he whispered. "No you're wrong. They wouldn't do that . . . they wouldn't." The worst thing was that it wasn't anything he hadn't thought himself. He was weak, there were so many others better and stronger than he was. But still, he had to try to deny the words. Because he was afraid. "THAT'S NOT TRUE!" he screamed suddenly, lashing out at the fog with his clenched fist, sparks flying. There was nothing to attack but that was the only response that made any kind of sense right now. He had to deny the words . . . had to.

Zoobey

 

[Azure Desiderium]

The first voice he heard was Freya's, the nergal boil's pointed ears catching the voices that drifted on the fog, and ones that sounded as confused as he felt were likely to be friends. "Hey! Pssst. This way!" It was a hoarse whisper, just as paranoid as the ghoul was about attracting the wrong kind of attention out here. As a second voice joined Freya's, Sharra laughed weakly. Seiji. That sounded like Seiji. Another voice he hadn't heard in some time, and a comrade he'd be altogether delighted to have at his side. "Seiji, that you out there?"


Aaaand add one dragon. Oh thank Jack on that one. Sharra released a heavy sigh, reaching over to clasp Aksaja's arm in a now-familiar gesture. "You're here...damn...I was worried I'd lost you. We've got friends coming this way." With all the yelling and beckoning, they were sure to attract something all right, be it friend or foe. "One thing's for sure, I don't think we'll be waiting around here for long..." Soft, not precisely a positive statement.

The boil was right, they didn't have to wait long. Brows furrowed as the lightning dragon began to talk to himself, the sort of conversations that sent Sharra's mind delving back into the stuff of night terrors, the deeply intimate and horrifying whispers of the fog. The insinuative, personal lies that it had told him on the island, the way that it had mangled the emotions of his friends and loved ones. "Aksaja! Stay with me!" Another squeeze of the dragon's arm followed, mind you, avoiding the one that was currently a living firecracker. "We've done this before, a'right!? We can make it again!" The words were a growl, a throaty sound that slid through gritted fangs.  

[Manda]

Sharra's words penetrated his thoughts then, and Aksaja blinked, seeming to come back to himself a bit. The ghostly words had planted the seeds of doubt, however, buried in his mind to possibly sprout at the worst possible time. "I . . . sorry. I don't . . . I don't know what happened there." The sparks about his free hand died down as the dragon frowned and tried to forget what he had heard.

"We'll be okay." Whether the words were meant to convince himself or anyone else within hearing was highly in question.  

[Nio Love]

Freya screamed when the hand touched her shoulder. She tried to turn around and chop away at it, but the familiarness of the dark skin had her clinging to it desperately instead. "Oh thank the Gods, it's-" Pulling on the arm to try and get into his embrace, Freya froze solid when she realized it wasn't Herryk at all. Her entire face turned red as a beet, and she stared awkwardly for a moment.

"HAH. SORRY. Okays. Ja. So. Seiji, rights? Thanks yeh. For findings me, I means. I was lost, and-" Oh thank Odin, she heard other voices. She tried to let go of the death grip she'd grabbed poor Seiji's arm with, and squinted through the fog to try and find them too.

"Hallo, friends, we're over here." Please come and find them and make her feel less awkward for almost snuggling with some other ghouls' man. Yup.  

[Eight]

Junko was going to greet Freya, and Sharra who she had not seen for a long time, and even Aksaja...until Freya decided to latch onto Seiji. It was bad enough the ghoul kept pinning her boilfriend's chest during Fright Night, now she was clinging to him.



"Freya, what are you doing.."  

[Zoobey]

"Friends?" A snarky voice, Freya's own voice in which only she could her, followed by a peal of mocking laughter. "You call them friends? Look closer at them."

As the valkyrie did, taking even a brief glance at Junko, Sharra, the strangers in this motley group, as the fog passed over them, stronger for a brief second, their figures began to melt, revealing underneath -

- Clay. They were humming blue, skeletal clay figures that wore the skin of allies, empty and dark. They had no cores. They weren't even-

- "See how easy you are to trust others?" The voice confirmed, lashing out, coaxing the valkyrie's own anger, forcing it to the surface, suggesting strong emotions. Betrayal. Hatred. Loss. "But when you turn your back on them, on each of them-"

The surge of emotion was stronger than any words.

*

Meanwhile Sharra, despite talking to Aksaja, despite those surrounding him, would look up-

- And see nothing. Everyone was gone. There was only the fog, the white.

"Now look what you've done." The voice resonated in his head. "You've isolated yourself again, you've scared them off. No, not scared, you've embarrassed yourself again, always the outcast, always the one alone. They've left you here now, haven't you. They left you again."

Nothing was making sense outside the voice talking to him, everything was growing duller, whiter. Had everyone really left him?

Azure Desiderium

Sharra can only see the fog around him despite the fact that everyone is around him. His hearing and sight have been compromised.

Nio Love

 

[Nio Love]

The sound of her own voice made her heart stutter in terror. She remembered the last time she'd heard herself talking. It was the day when all of this started. The day she finally realized what she needed to do, to change. To be perfect. It was the day she broke.

And now that voice was back.

Freya watched her friends melt away, and the resulting scream was long, and non-stop. She couldn't hear anything Junko, or anyone else was saying. All she could do was scream, and scream.

The ghoul crumpled to the floor, her arms wrapped over her head, trying to ball up as tightly as possible in hopes it would all just go away.  

[Eight]

Junko was completely oblivious to what the students around her were feeling. Something brushed along her leg, making her jump and turn. Oh it..oh...maybe it was her hair. She gave a tiny chuckle of embarrassment over her own behavior and shook her head, about to try and gently get between Freya and Seiji until the ghoul collapsed and began to just scream.

"Freya?!" What happened?! Did something attack her?! No, that couldn't be possible! They were all here! They were all okay! They were alone here, just them! She fell to her knees beside the valkyrie and put a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "Freya? Freya! What's wrong?!"  

[Manda]

Aksaja jumped when a scream suddenly rang out nearby, looking around warily. "Who else is here?!" he asked, obviously trying to sound brave but mostly failing to do so. Squinting into the fog, the lightning dragon caught glimpses of the interaction between Freya, Seiji and Junko. Then Freya suddenly dropped, screaming again. Louder this time.

What the hell?! Okay, actually, he knew what the hell. The voices, and the fog. But . . . "Hey! You have to try and fight it! Don't listen!" he yelled in her general direction. He had yet to step away from Sharra, though, not wanting to risk getting separated.